August 31, 2023

Quantum Futures: International Development and the Quantum Computing Transition

• General Information
• Report

This report is an effort to address these questions and synthesize current understanding of how quantum computing may affect the trajectory of global development over the next two decades and proposes how practitioners and decision-makers can respond. The report highlights key challenges, risks, potential opportunities of quantum computing, and proposes recommendations for USAID and development practitioners more broadly....read more

August 23, 2023

Preserving and Restoring Mangroves Protects Communities

• Climate and Environmental Protection
• Brief

This brief, available in English and Tagalog, details the valuable services that mangroves provide, explains the challenges of preserving and restoring mangrove forests, and provides recommendations for local leaders to take to protect communities from the consequences of sea level rise and increasingly severe typhoons. Both briefs also include links to the “State of Mangrove Summit” findings for Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, and the Central and Eastern Visayas....read more

August 9, 2023

USAID READ Program: A Novel Approach Boosts Literacy in Dominican Schools

• Education
• Factsheet

Literacy skills are essential building blocks for success in primary education and advancement to secondary schooling. Yet schools in the Dominican Republic still struggle to impart basic literacy skills to their students, despite institutional and policy reforms. To address this issue, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Read Program created an approach for primary students in the Dominican Republic’s public schools, successfully combining teacher training and mentoring with tailored practice materials designed to meet children at their individual reading levels. Not only did students’ reading precursor skills improve within two years, but a subsequent national evaluation of sixth graders showed that students with the highest reading comprehension levels were more likely to have participated in the USAID Read Program.   This factsheet, available in English and Spanish, shares the approach and success of the literacy intervention and provides recommendations to take the program’s success nationwide in the Dominican…...read more

August 9, 2023

Striga-Resistant Sorghum Offers a Sustainable Alternative for Kenyan Farmers

• Agriculture and Food Security
• Factsheet

Sorghum was the third largest cereal crop in Kenya in 2020, following maize and wheat, with a gross production value of more than US$260 million. This staple crop is threatened by parasitic Striga plants, which pose a major constraint to food production in Kenya and throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Shifting sorghum cultivation to Striga-resistant varieties developed by a Kenyan team of scientists at Kenyatta University is an opportunity to increase crop yields for small-scale farmers in western Kenya. This factsheet – available in English and Swahili – shares results of the research on the Striga-resistant sorghum and recommendations to support striga-smart practices in Western Kenya....read more

June 9, 2023

Feed the Future and Conflict Integration Toolkit

• Conflict & Security
• Technical Guidance

Conflict remains one of the largest drivers of global food insecurity worldwide and the stressors this puts on the food system are numerous. As conflict is the largest driver of global food insecurity, the resources provided here strive to ensure that all Feed the Future Initiatives integrate conflict sensitivity. Conflict was responsible for roughly 72 percent of acute food insecurity worldwide in 2021. As many as 60 percent of the world’s 828 million hungry live in regions subject to war and violence. Conflict-affected areas are the frontlines in the global fight against hunger, and addressing food insecurity increasingly means addressing conflict, violence, and fragility.   Resources available include: Feed the Future and Conflict Integration: A Toolkit for Programming Food Systems Conceptual Framework: Companion Guide on Fragility, Conflict, and Violence Conflict Integration Guide...read more

May 17, 2023

Water and Conflict Toolkit

• Water and Sanitation
• Technical Guidance

USAID’s Water and Conflict Toolkit, originally published in 2014, has recently been updated. This revised version provides guidance for implementing partners, USAID staff, and other stakeholders to better understand the connection between water management and key risk factors associated with conflict, address linkages, and incorporate conflict integration into water security, sanitation, and hygiene programming. The toolkit is one of a series of forthcoming USAID resources around conflict including land, Feed the Future, food systems, and conflict integration....read more

May 17, 2023

Climate Change and Poverty Working Paper

• Climate and Environmental Protection
• Report

Building on previous RTAC research, this working paper analyzes the impacts of climate change on future levels of poverty across various income scenarios and thresholds. Utilizing the International Futures (IFs) model, this paper draws on representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios that model alternative patterns of temperature change at a national level using established damage functions operationalized within the International Futures (IFs) tool. Based on findings, an RCP6.0 scenario projects that by 2100, more than 31 percent of the world population will be living in extreme poverty due to climate change, another 28 percent are projected to be living in poverty, and another 22 percent in moderate poverty....read more

May 17, 2023

Update on Impact of COVID-19 on Food Security

• Agriculture and Food Security
• Brief

This brief and methodological note have updated the previous analysis of the long-term effects of COVID-19 on the future of food security. To determine updated impacts, the most recent insights on COVID-19, specifically the effects the pandemic has had on economic growth and recovery, were used to quantify development progress on food security to 2040 in three scenarios...read more

December 15, 2022

Climate-Related Migration Foresight: Migration Modeling and Climate Game Changers

• Climate and Environmental Protection
• Brief, Report

By Brooke Jardine – NORC at the University of Chicago for USAID Research Technical Assistance Center (RTAC) The Research and Technical Assistance Center (RTAC) partnered with the USAID Bureau of Policy, Planning, and Learning (PPL) to gather evidence on climate-related migration globally. Two reports were developed to address different aspects of this issue. One report analyzes the current state of climate migration models today while the second report discusses key climate-related “game changers” that are likely to have a significant impact on future migration patterns worldwide. Each report is accompanied by a brief which summarizes the key findings and ideas....read more