b'2020 - 2021A N N U A L R E V I E WSUSTAINABILITY BUSINESS IN DEVELOPMENTExpanding the ReachClosing the Gap: Using of Impact Evaluation:Evidence to Inform Private Food for Peace, BangladeshSector Engagement Many development projects are pursued with the belief that theyThe ERIE team is on track to conduct eight pilot studies, oneThe private sector has always played a powerful role in reducingwith the private sector. A living resource that is continuously will ultimately achieve long-term impacts. Unfortunately, rigidof which is a 5-year evaluation of USAIDs Office of Food forthe need for foreign assistance. This role has become evenupdated, the tool allows users to search for documents by funding cycles, changing programmatic priorities, and a lack ofPeaces principal food security programs: more critical in the wake of COVID-19 as global poverty andfiltering for criteria such as region, country, and sector.reliable evidence often lead to costly and ineffective development CAREs project SHOUHARDO III inequality continue to rise, and development funding is stretched Harmonizing Development and Business Indicators:projects that measure only short-term results.to achieve more with less. The private sector and development The Pulte Institute leads a consortium of researchers who are World Visions Nobo Jatra Project organizations must continue to build collaborative relationships,This tool allows USAID staff and private sector partners to working to demonstrate the power of long-term evaluation. Helen Keller Internationals SAPLING project helping to reimagine solutions to the challenges that will persistexamine pertinent, illustrative indicator linkages between Expanding the Reach of Impact Evaluations (ERIE), part ofas marginalized communities recover from the pandemic. their sectors by sorting information according to business the MERLIN group in USAIDs Bureau for Policy, Planning,The evaluations began in 2021, as the projects closed, and theAs part of a multi-year project funded by USAID LASER PULSE,theme, business indicator source, the U.S. Standardized and Learning (PPL), is an approach to conducting retrospectiveresearch team will follow the same households and villagesthe Pulte Institute has co-created a series of tools designed toProgram Structure and Definitions (SPSD) category or long-term impact evaluations of development projects.for the next four years. This will help USAID understand ifhelp USAID Missions articulate and operationalize the value ofprogram area, andmost recentlyUN Sustainable short-term impacts were sustained, or if theorized long-termprivate sector partnerships. Paul Perrin and Melissa Paulsen ledDevelopment Goal.impacts are realized. To learn more about the ERIE project,the development of two of the key tools that will complementBoth tools encourage better understanding of private sector visit pulte.nd.edu/ERIE.USAIDs Private Sector Engagement Policy: motivations and needs, identify opportunities for engagement,Private Sector Engagement (PSE) Evidence Gap Map:and improve PSE monitoring approaches and decision making. The consortium is currently receiving feedback on both tools The map provides users with an interactive, visual compilationin the field and will work to roll out other PSE tools more of case studies, evaluations, research articles, and otherbroadly in 2022.resources which will help facilitate USAIDs interactions Wetookthevaluepropositionsofboththeprivatesectorand development actors and put them into a matrix that conceptualizes PSE.Themapallowsuserstonotonlyseeexistingknowledge,but also where any gaps may exist in our understanding of PSE. We hope this might encourage additional investment in research and evaluation to build this evidence base. Paul Perrin, Evidence and Learning Director, Pulte Institute for Global Development18 19'