As we enter the midpoint of the Research Technical Assistance Center’s (RTAC) fifth year, we take stock of the diverse university partnerships we have forged to implement a broad array of research-related activities.  Since its inception in the summer of 2018, RTAC has partnered with researchers affiliated with 19 universities and 2 specialized research organizations to implement 27 major research activities.  RTAC’s fixed university consortium partners – Arizona State University, Duke University, Notre Dame University, and ResilientAfrica Network out of Makerere University in Uganda – have actively engaged under RTAC and implemented forty percent of these activities.  In line with RTAC’s goal to engage a diverse range of academic partners on a competitive basis, fifteen percent of these major research activities were implemented by universities based in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and fifteen percent were implemented by U.S. minority-serving institutions (MSIs).

Research activities under RTAC are varied in technical focus, complexity, and scale.  For example, RTAC has conducted several economic growth studies such as a Customer-Centric Financial Services in Resource-Poor Environments in Honduras, and market analyses in Haiti,  Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.  Agriculture and food security work includes a Food Security Desk Review, Stakeholder Mapping, and Political Economy Analysis for Mali, and a globally focused study on Resilience, Food Security, and Conflict.  RTAC has also marshalled the expertise of the academic community to explore various aspects of the intersection of digital technology and development, including research on Machine Learning for Programmatic Synthesis, Inclusive Digital Development, and Quantum Computing.  Other work spanning education, public health, and social development includes examining Pre-primary Data and Measurement in Education in sub-Saharan Africa, Sustainable Financing Initiative for HIV/AIDS, and Reexamining How to Best Help Refugees Achieve Resilience and Self-Reliance in Kenya.

RTAC’s work has also been geographically diverse, including some research activities focused on a specific country and others meant to explore generalizable findings that can inform USAID programming on a global scale.  To date, RTAC’s research partners have conducted field-based and secondary research to support USAID’s work in 26 individual countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East.  Several research activities remain ongoing.

A full accounting of RTAC’s research-related activities, research partners, and geographic focus is listed below.