SO4. Improving Outcomes of Research and Capacity Building

SO.4. Improving Outcomes of Research and Capacity Building: To improve outcomes of Legume Innovation Lab research and capacity building projects and to assess impacts to improve decision making regarding future investments

 Impact assessment must be viewed as a strategic activity that informs the prioritization of program activities as well as the design and implementation of Legume Innovation Lab projects to ensure that outputs from research and institutional capacity building investments achieve the intended development outcomes. This view requires programmatic introspection and evaluation, learning lessons from past programmatic decisions and development experiences, and the evaluation of factors that contribute to performance and ultimate impact by previously funded projects. Impact assessment is also forward thinking: understanding current socioeconomic, political, and agroecological conditions and projecting the potential for technologies and policies to benefit stakeholders of grain legume value chains through ex-ante assessments.

 This objective will be achieved through a variety of approaches and activities. Under the leadership of Dr. Mywish Maredia, Michigan State University, this component will provide the following services to USAID and the Management Office to improve outcomes during 2013–2017.

  • Advise program directors on projected future research outputs, technologies, and practices with high potential for benefit to and adoption by end users.
  • Assist the Management Office on appropriate indicators to monitor project technical progress and performance in achieving developmental outcomes and in developing approaches to systematize the collection of needed data for indicator reporting to USAID under Feed the Future.
  • Work with PIs of subcontracted projects to define clear outputs from research and capacity building activities, develop impact pathway strategies, determine to whom and when outputs will be handed over to other public and private sector entities for follow-up translational research and technology dissemination, and identify appropriate baseline data that should be collected for future assessment of adoption by end users.
  • Assess postadoption impacts of Bean/Cowpea and Pulse CRSP technologies for analysis of return on investments in research, program promotion, and reporting purposes to USAID.

Strategic Objectives

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