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Feed the Future’s Influence and Leverage – Formative Evaluation Report

Country

Global

Region

Global

Type

Year

2024

Keywords:

Feed the Future's Influence and Leverage - Formative Evaluation Report
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This Evaluation Report was produced at the request of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It was prepared independently by Azra Nurkic Kacapor, Martha Benezet, Dan Robinson, and the Institute for Development Impact under the USAID Monitoring and Evaluation Training Services (METS) Activity.

The authors wish to acknowledge the following individuals for their kind support and contributions to this evaluation: Magnus Fain, Alice Riedel, and Mousumi Sarkar from USAID/REFS for their technical guidance support throughout the evaluation process; Grace Vottero, Penelope Kogan, and Christine Traylor from I4DI for their critical assistance throughout all stages of the data collection and reporting; and Joseph Kotun, Bridget Lavin, and Palak Agarwal from I4DI for technical support and quality assurance guidance during the final stages of this report.

The authors also appreciate the support of the many individuals from USAID/REFS and the USAID Missions in Honduras, Kenya, and Nigeria who interacted with the team and provided logistical support for the evaluation field work. Finally, the authors would like to thank all of the key informants who agreed to share their insights and expertise as part of this formative evaluation.

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Feed the Future’s Influence and Leverage – Formative Evaluation Report

Country

Global

Region

Global

Type

Evaluation Report

Year

2024

Abstract:

The Feed the Future (FTF) initiative, coordinated by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), seeks to sustainably reduce global poverty, hunger, and malnutrition in low and middle income countries. A major objective of FTF is to scale up and amplify the positive outcomes of innovations and investments to wider populations, which can be accomplished by influencing partners and stakeholders and leveraging outside resources from partner organizations and stakeholders in the countries where FTF works. The purpose of this formative performance evaluation was to answer three main questions that explored (1) how FTF stakeholders conceptualize influence and leverage (I&L), through examples of its achievement; (2) the pathways through which I&L were achieved, and the drivers facilitating these pathways; and (3) how I&L processes and outcomes might best be measured within FTF.

Description:

The study identified a range of examples of FTF’s influence and leverage outcomes, including localized activity-level achievements as well as higher-level influence and leverage through interfacing with government stakeholders and development partners. Through the case studies in Kenya, Nigeria, and Honduras, the evaluation team identified five pathways of USAID FTF’s influence on stakeholders and four pathways for leveraging resources via FTF programming, as well as two additional pathways through which FTF achieves both influence and leverage outcomes. The country-level pathways include cross-cutting themes that were apparent in all three countries as well as country-specific program strategies. Further analysis synthesized the individual, activity-level I&L pathways into six pathways. Among these were two combined influence and leverage pathways: 1) Strategic Engagement and Collaboration and 2) Data and Evidence Generation, Dissemination, and Use; two influence pathways: 1) Localization and Capacity Building and 2) Innovation and Technology, and; two leverage pathways: 1) Market Systems Development, and 2) Strategic Resource Alignment and Mobilization.

Keywords:

Evidence and Intelligence
Global Sustainability

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