J.9 - USAID Egypt Learning Agenda - Summary Tables.pdf

USAID/Egypt Learning Agenda - Summary Tables Learning Priority 1: Understanding how women’s empowerment and inclusion affect outcomes Corresponding cross-cutting theme: Empower women across sectors

Women’s empowerment is both a cross-cutting theme in the Results Framework as well as a Learning Priority. It is also expected to be mainstreamed throughout all of the portfolios in order to achieve results across sectors. Women’s empowerment is explicit in targeted IRs (in DOs 2 and 3) and also highlighted in a Sub-IR under DO1. And it is a key component of the larger CDCS Goal. The Learning Questions will help the Mission to understand how advancing this critical dimension of programming dynamically influences all the DOs.

Learning Agenda Table

Learning Priority Learning Questions

Understanding how women’s empowerment and inclusion affect outcomes

Q1. How are activities that are focused on women’s empowerment and inclusion mutually reinforced to achieve our goal? What is an effective management approach for maximizing the desired impact across the portfolio?

Q2. What are the drivers behind changes in behavior that impact women's empowerment? What are the most effective interventions/tools impacting behavior change?

Q3. How can programming overcome the barriers to women’s entry and retention into the labor force (particularly the private sector)? What are the motives/incentives to hire, retain, and promote women across sectors?

Q4. In what ways do reforms (institutional and regulatory) affect women’s empowerment objectives?

J.9: USAID Egypt Learning Agenda - Summary Tables

Learning Priority 2: Understanding the private sector’s role in improving results Corresponding cross-cutting theme: Engage the Private Sector for input and improved outcomes

Engaging private sector actors has been identified as a cross-cutting theme in the CDCS. Determining the extent to which, where, and how various Private Sector Engagement (PSE) approaches are effective in improving development outcomes is a Learning Priority. The theory of change behind the prioritization is that “if the Mission engages private sector in areas of shared value, then the Mission will achieve greater development outcomes than it would without this engagement.” When the Mission partners/collaborates with the private sector, this is based on the assumption that the private sector will add value. The learning questions under this priority aim to test this assumption and surface any areas where impediments or challenges consistently appear.

Understanding the private sector’s role in improving results

(This priority is aligned with Agency PSE Evidence and Learning Plan Question 1: “How and to what extent does private sector engagement improve development and humanitarian outcomes?”)

Q1. How do different approaches* to private sector engagement affect results? Specifically:

- What benefits accrue from working with the PS?

- What isn’t worth continuing with the PS? What should be Increased/decreased in terms of activities/engagement?

- What impediments to success appear consistently?

*Approaches to consider include:

- Convening private sector with government actors

- Shared value partnerships with private companies (led by USAID or its IPs) to improve development outcomes

- DFC deals

Learning Priority 3: Understanding how ICT affects our development programming Corresponding cross-cutting theme: Strengthen ICT adoption across sectors, in particular for marginalized groups

ICT is a cross-cutting theme in the Results Framework as well as a Learning Priority. USAID is promoting ICT adoption based on the assumption that ICT adoption has the potential to advance social equity and inclusive economic growth, and increase GOE effectiveness and accountability. Accordingly, the activities under this learning priority seek to test the assumption that increased use of and access to ICT improves development outcomes, and further explore what factors influence ICT adoption, and strategies and initiatives that USAID should undertake to ensure that ICT reaches key groups equitably and that unintended consequences of digitalization and attendant amalgamation of personal data are foreseen.

Understanding how ICT affects our development programming

Q1. a) What factors influence ICT adoption (or lack of adoption in certain circumstances /among certain populations/consumers)?

b) What barriers exist for investors/providers to increase access to ICT?

Q2. What concrete steps should USAID interventions take to be sensitive to the digital divide in order to ameliorate disparities (and avoid reinforcing them)?

Q3. How does access to technology affect programming, specifically in the areas of:

● Transparency?

● Social equity?

● Economic growth?

What unintended consequences may result from digitization of public records?

Learning Priority 4: Understanding how to maximize effective collaboration for programmatic impact Corresponding cross-cutting theme: Adopt a facilitative approach and include stakeholders across the Program Cycle Effective collaboration is an important component of successful programming and a means to ensuring that the results will be more sustainable with stronger ownership.

Understanding how to maximize effective collaboration with a common goal for programmatic impact

Q1. What are the most effective programmatic opportunities for integration across sectors? How do we collaborate across the Mission to improve results across the portfolio?