Yesterday, USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah delivered a powerful speech at the Center for Global Development marking the beginning of a new era for the federal government's most specialized development agency.  In his speech, aptly titled "The Modern Development Enterprise," Shah outlines how USAID will transform from a traditional aid agency to an organization built on efficiency, impact and data-driven decision-making.

Shah first lays out a number of top USAID global development programmatic areas that address key priorities in the State Department's development agenda:

• Feed the Future aims to empower countries in need of the proper food sustainability methods that will enable them to address their own demand in hunger rather than rely on food donations of other countries
• Global Health Initiative works to strengthen global health systems to address critical needs abroad, again with the key priority being self-sufficiency
• Development Innovation Ventures provides the means for promising development ideas to achieve scale

While these initiatives are impressive, what struck me most about Shah's speech was his vision for new evaluation policies at USAID.  (The full policy can be found here.)  Among these directives, Shah now requires all USAID programs have a performance evaluation conducted by independent third parties rather than the implementing parties themselves to ensure transparency of actual impact created, credible evidence grounded in fact and the necessary information to inform future resource allocation

The full Evaluation Policy lays out a number of different evaluation methods that can be applied to global development.  I credit the contributors of this policy in highlighting the specific role different methods of measurement can play.  For example, randomized, controlled studies involving treatments groups have a place in measurement.  However, so does an outcomes-based measurement approach that can provide credible, timely information as to whether current programs and activities are on track to create long-term development impact.  I laud this policy and look forward to the information such evaluations will reveal as this data will be central to strategic decision-making of the agency moving forward.

As a taxpayer, I am happy to hear of a large federal agency moving forward to remove waste and inefficiency in order to better achieve their organizational goals.  As a measurement nerd, I am escatic about how Shah strikes a number of themes that are central to efficient, credible measurement practices.

(Full speech video and transcript can be found here.)