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7 Strategic Opportunities for STI P
Pages 123-144

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From page 123...
... An innovation hurdle persists at the pilot or seed stage, although some examples provide evidence of progress to the next level of "transition to scale." USAID needs to draw greater attention to these successes, such as the meningitis vaccine in North Africa.2 In evaluating innovations for transition to scale, sustainability is an important aspect. Who will pay once the development funding ends?
From page 124...
... As a third strategic opportunity, gender equality and women's empowerment captures the imperative of ensuring the equitable participation of women in economic and social development, and expanding women's opportunities to lead the way to better living conditions through improvements in education, health, and agriculture, and access to technology and economic opportunities. All three strategic directions require time to bring institutional innovations to fruition and to test and evaluate them, in order to provide a significant new level of development effectiveness.
From page 125...
... 2. As one example in USAID, the Global Development Lab works to scale development innovation through the Development Innovation Ventures (DIV)
From page 126...
... For example, within the Office of Energy and Infrastructure Programs, the Climate Technology Initiative Private Financing Advisory Network (CTI PFAN) , of which USAID is a partner, connects clean energy businesses 4 C
From page 127...
... , which leads Feed the Future, has expanded funding to scale promising agricultural technologies since 2012, and recently reviewed elements contributing to successful scaling of agricultural technologies through five case studies involving the private sector, including the Purdue Improved Crop Storage bags described in Chapter 5. 8 In addition to ensuring that the innovation in question meets user needs and capacity, the common threads in these cases include ensuring profit levels along the value chain to mitigate risk, cocreating supply and demand, determining the role of the public sector in advance, and giving early and sufficient attention to the coordination of partnerships.
From page 128...
... 9 9 This was evident in the Science and Technology Policy Instruments Project conducted by 10 research teams from developing nations. The STPI project, which was supported by the Canadian International Development Center in the 1970s, was well documented by policy research reports.
From page 129...
... A recent review by the USAID Board for International Food and Agricultural Development of investment patterns in research capacity concluded, as its first recommendation, that "the highest impact effort USAID could undertake would be to re-establish -- with modern tools and capabilities -- a robust, long-term institutional capacity-building initiative in at least one higher education institution in each Feed the Future country." 10 Innovation and problem-solving require science and technology training for emerging professionals and institutional capacity-building to sustain their careers. USAID Forward builds on the agency's longstanding commitment to improve knowledge, skills, infrastructure, and processes in the countries where the agency works -- in other words, to build capacity.
From page 130...
... . 12 Despite the organizations' different structures and missions (EMBRAPA, more than four decades old, has become a global leader in tropical agriculture research; AIMS focuses on student development, as described in Box 24)
From page 131...
... Project, coordinated by the Office of Health Systems within the Bureau of Global Health, operates in 20 countries to strengthen the health care workforce. As another example, the Office of Climate Change coordinates EC-LEDS (Enhancing Capacity for Low Emission Development Strategies)
From page 132...
... Clearly, it takes a combination of hostgovernment leadership and coordination of many donors to achieve optimal investment levels for each stakeholder in this complex issue. For STI to improve agricultural yields, advance girls' access to education, or help fight disease, it must be accessible to those who need it.
From page 133...
... But USAID has few projects that focus on investing in scientific research capacity, regulatory oversight, and training that would empower low-income country researchers to produce scientific research and quality data, collaborate, and address their own health and development needs. Such investments would advance existing U.S.
From page 134...
... Innovative finance is a potential $2.5 trillion industry, according to Rockefeller Foundation estimates, essential to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, and USAID can play a small but valuable role in filling the gap. 18 USAID's partners also show how long-standing capacity-building can be mobilized in a crisis.
From page 135...
... Finding 7.3: USAID has underinvested in the scientific research capacity, regulatory oversight, and training that would empower lowerincome country researchers to produce scientific research and reliable data, collaborate with researchers globally, and address their own health and development needs. Finally, USAID can also contribute to capacity-building by marshalling its evaluation resources to determine how to measure what works.
From page 136...
... project, and the metrics used there for selection of universities and gauging performance.21 GENDER EQUALITY AND FEMALE EMPOWERMENT USAID, like other international development organizations, recognizes gender equality and female empowerment as core development objectives, key to the realization of fundamental human rights and necessary for the achievement of sustainable development. An abundant literature documents the challenges facing women and girls around the world that touch upon almost every aspect of life.
From page 137...
... STI+P is articulated within the policy's seven guiding principles. Specifically, the policy calls for USAID to "harness science, technology, and innovation to reduce gender gaps and empower women and girls," advocating "bold, imaginative, and creative use of new technologies and innovations that hold great promise for increasing men's and women's health and wellbeing"; and "using science and technology to help change social norms and stereotypes can help reduce gender disparities." It offers examples of STI+P for addressing gender inequality and enhancing female empowerment, such as the mWomen Partnership, aimed at decreasing the gender gap in mobile technology, and the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, which supports research into innovations to improve women's safety and health, increase economic productivity, and reduce unpaid labor.
From page 138...
... and use this information to shape programming, but others still face challenges in data collection and accessing sufficiently sophisticated analytical capabilities to use in their science, technology, and innovation programs. In addition to efforts to include gender as a priority in all USAID programs, evaluated through gender analyses, the agency has also invested in strategic initiatives and efforts targeted at addressing particular issues that contribute to gender inequality and erode female empowerment.
From page 139...
... BOX 7-1 STI+P and Gender While a comprehensive review of the role of STI+P in all of USAID's efforts to redress gender inequality and promote female empowerment is not within the scope of this report, the examples below provide a high-level overview: Global Development Lab: The DIV, Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN) , and PEER program support projects that deal with issues related to gender and female empowerment.
From page 140...
... USAID missions are harnessing STIP to promote gender equality and female empowerment. Many CDCSs include gender in their results frameworks.
From page 141...
... In summary, gender equality and female empowerment are recognized as core development objectives by USAID, as well as by other international organizations and the private sector. USAID and others view STI+P as a tool that can promote positive change for women: for example, by targeting women's health; empowering women in agriculture; providing access to education in general, and education in science and technology specifically; encouraging and enabling female entrepreneurship and economic empowerment; and working to close the technological gender gap.
From page 142...
... To ensure high research standards, USAID should expand its role in building scientific processes in host countries, such as helping to strengthen peer review, transparency and replicability, and publication and presentations of findings. USAID should focus on building and engaging with science, technology, and innovation capacity in partner countries.
From page 143...
... STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITIES FOR STI+P 143 dents with various needs, support of science institutions, and strengthening of regulatory bodies. Recommendation 7.4: In addition to gender analyses of STI+P-related initiatives specifically targeted at gender equality and women's empowerment, each mission director and office director should ensure that all STI+P projects consider gender analysis at all stages of the program cycle.


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