The Role of Science, Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships in the Future of USAID (2017) / Chapter Skim
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8 Integrating STI P into USAID Operations
8 Integrating STI P into USAID Operations
Pages 145-164
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From page 145... ...
devoted considerable attention to operational issues as major hurdles for implementing an agency-wide science, technology, and innovation (STI) strategy, notably technically qualified personnel levels, incentives for S&T professionals, budget levels, and contracting constraints.
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From page 146... ...
are Foreign Service Nationals (FSNs) serving in USAID missions, with the remaining employed through the Civil Service, personal service contractors (PSC)
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From page 147... ...
Only 2 of 33 personnel hiring categories are centrally managed -- Foreign Service and Civil Service employees. Each Washington office/bureau also sets its own staffing priorities, especially for technical personnel borrowed from other federal agencies, fellows, on-site contractors, and others.
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From page 148... ...
, although the trend lines shown in Figure 8-1 are illustrative. Assuming that the baseline of unspecified STI expertise in USAID has remained static over time given the low turnover of civil servants and FSNs in USAID missions, the Development Leadership Initiative significantly increased the number of STEM-qualified individuals within USAID within the Foreign Service.
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From page 149... ...
SOURCE: OPM Fedscope Databank NOTE: Only Foreign Service and Civil Service employees are included. To augment S&T expertise beyond Foreign Service and Civil Service direct hires, USAID has rapidly increased its number of limited tenure staff, notably American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
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From page 150... ...
In Washington, they are more effective when partnered with experienced personnel who understand and value STI issues, most commonly located in the technical bureaus. The newly developed Global Development Lab struggled to identify experienced and knowledgeable mentors for its rapid influx of fellows.
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9 Past and current topics of engagement by Jefferson Fellows include catalyzing new partnerships for the Power Africa initiative; providing critical guidance on seismological trends to the USAID administrator immediately following the earthquake in Haiti; combating wildlife trafficking; and advancing a trilateral agreement between the United States, Brazil, and Mozambique. As with the AAAS Fellowship program, the Jefferson Fellows also bring science and technology expertise into U.S.
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From page 152... ...
. Finding 8.1: USAID has shown considerable ingenuity in expanding the technical expertise of its staff, both by doubling the size of the Foreign Service, with hires in technical backstops, by borrowing staff from other agencies, and through prestigious fellowship programs.
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From page 153... ...
to scale up the gains from technology, USAID needs to be part of the discussions about risk/reward both for strategic directions and for individual projects. Finding 8.2: USAID will not be able to take full advantage of the development acceleration inherent in STI without a change of culture -- an increased appetite for risk taking; required training in each backstop with appropriate STI knowledge; promotion and rewards to Foreign Service Officers, Foreign Service Nationals, and civil service staff for longer-term success and impact; and agility in policy development and project management with inputs of real-time data for decision making.
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From page 154... ...
For those who want a foreign assistance agency to be agile and part of an innovation environment, USAID contracting and procurement has not traditionally met that test. To its credit, and drawing upon the results of the 2006 National Academies committee report, the Global Development Lab has recognized the difficulties posed by USAID's no-risk approach to contracting and is experimenting with solutions that allow accountability standards to continue to be met, while enabling USAID to draw ideas and approaches from nontraditional partners from the research, technology, and innovation communities.
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contract, USAID used this method successfully Incentive Contracts: Mechanisms include a Cost Plus Award Fee (CPAF) in which a contractor may be awarded additional profit for exceeding contract requirements.
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a Communication from USAID/Global Development Lab Procurement Office to the committee, June 16, 2016.
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From page 157... ...
The reinvigoration of science, technology, innovation, and partnerships was central to the Obama administration, and the USAID administrator placed great emphasis on the recommendations of the 2006 National Academies report in order to achieve these objectives. As a result, the creation of the Office of Science and Technology and the Development Innovation Ventures in 2010, and its successor Global Development Lab in 2014, were decisions made centrally in Washington.
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From page 158... ...
Increasingly, mission staff appreciate the potential for the Lab to serve as a catalyst by developing and providing STI+P resources, maintaining a clearinghouse of information and best practices in development, and serving as a connector and convener of STI+P communities of practice. USAID could strengthen the Integration of STIP into policy, implementation, and evaluation in other ways, including personnel exchanges between Global Development Lab and mission staff (including Foreign Service Nationals)
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From page 159... ...
When properly conceived and implemented, central STI units can be a powerful impetus and conduit for strengthening development outcomes. The Global Development Lab can provide these valuable functions: • Serve as a visible focal point for STI across USAID; • Elevate STI issues and potential to senior management; • Ensure a budget allocation is dedicated to STI initiatives; • Provide a network home for STI staff globally; • Develop a space for innovation as creative disruption;
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From page 160... ...
Some of the concerns include competition with existing STI operations in the technical bureaus; addition of another dimension of consideration to already complex USAID strategies; diversion of funding from existing programs; increased time required for additional coordination; on-boarding of new staff with little knowledge of how USAID works; aversion to experiments and risk taking that may not lead to predictable success; longer-term time horizons for tangible outcomes; hard-tomeasure results for such broad goals; complexity added to existing relationships of technical bureaus and missions; and uncertainty about the role and contributions of a new unit in the country program cycle. These concerns have limited the Lab's early effectiveness, given its overly ambitious initial agenda, uncertainty about divisions of responsibility with other bureaus, and over commitment on what it could accomplish with its limited staff.
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From page 161... ...
That may not be a role that the administrator or the Global Development Lab director would want to integrate into agency work across the board. Yet there are potential gains for some units in USAID to build new sustainable partnerships with U.S.
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Such is the logical outcome of disaggregated decision making where only the attention of the senior-most executive can focus attention across managerial ranks on the importance of STI+P. Finding 8.4.: Dedicated effort by the Global Development Lab, the technical bureaus, and the field is necessary to ensure that STI+P skills, networks, knowledge, and emerging best practices are deployed to achieve successful development outcomes.
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From page 163... ...
Recommendation 8.2: The leadership of the Global Development Lab, including the recently-appointed science advisor to the administrator, should lab's role as a principal conduit for mediating strategic directions in the use of STI+P in development, between Washington and the field, as well as among the various stakeholders that bring value to STI in the development process.
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