Higher Education Solutions Network – Annual Report (FY2017): Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation

CITE's overall goal is to increase the impact and cost-effectiveness of products designed for people who lack access to basic human services. CITE's approach involves developing and implementing a rigorous product evaluation method that will help development organizations make educated product deployment decisions in emerging market economies. The initiative also aims to develop a network of organizations and individuals who contribute to, value, use, and act on CITE data. CITE's evaluation framework consists of two program objectives and several intermediate results, including creating a method for evaluating products designed for people who lack access to basic human services, establishing successful collaborations on evaluation research within the Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN), and increasing the number and influence of CITE evaluations on products designed for people who lack access to basic human services. CITE used a results-based monitoring and evaluation approach to assess the overall impact of its work in relation to the two program objectives and the intermediate results. The initiative tracked a number of quantitative metrics, including the number of evaluations conducted, the number of stakeholders engaged in problem-solving with CITE, and the number of partners using CITE data or methods to change programming. CITE also collaborated with partner organizations to qualitatively document whether information from evaluations leads to better decisions, better purchases, and ultimately, better project outcomes. In terms of numbers, CITE completed 10 product evaluations and has two ongoing across three continents, exceeding its target of 10. Ten organizations have adopted CITE's approach, and eight organizations have used CITE's data to make decisions or changes to their programs. Eighteen organizations have used CITE methods or data to change policy or programming, resulting in 21 program and policy changes. CITE also engaged 91 students in solving development challenges, exceeding its target number of 57. The initiative created or contributed to 21 courses, exceeding its target of 10. CITE produced 30 reports and publications over the five years of the program, exceeding its target of 14. The total number of evaluation downloads to date is 39,839, far exceeding the original target of 4000. In addition to its internal achievements, CITE met its cost-share obligation of $1,932,712.25 and brought in $3,736,889 as buy-ins from other Bureaus and Missions, as well as an additional $1,342,082.84 as leverage. This represents a total additional investment of $7,011,686.09 in comparison to CITE's award from the USAID Global Development Lab, which was $7,730,857 over five years. CITE successfully fostered partnerships with 25 organizations, including the USDA, the World Bank, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.