PRB

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Research Division in the Innovation, Technology, and Research Hub (ITR/R) partners with higher education institutions, USAID Bureaus and Missions, and the international development community to create research, innovations, and solutions that can benefit and transform society. The Research Division makes USAID-supported research results publicly available; guides Agency policies and processes related to research and development; and works with other federal agencies and external partners to support researchers, scientists, and engineers working on critical development challenges. As part of its support to the Research Division, PRB developed three print products to showcase the importance of investing in research to accelerate development solutions: a factsheet, report, and legacy brief.

To support the development of the factsheet and the report, PRB facilitated interviews with senior ITR/R staff to determine the audience and purpose of both products to be used to amplify ITR/R’s work and results. In consultation with the Research Division, PRB then designed and produced the fact sheet which serves as an entry point to ITR/R’s work for high level stakeholders. This fact sheet provides an overview of ITR/R’s role within the Agency and a summary of the large portfolio of ITR/R programs that advance the use of research, demonstrating that investments made in implementation research can yield impactful results. The ITR/R report goes into more depth about the work and accomplishments of the division and targets high-level stakeholders within and beyond USAID.

In the final year of the RTAC project, PRB worked closely with the ITR/R communications team to produce a legacy brief that highlights RTAC’s unique, useful model and its success and impact at USAID. This graphically rich brief targets external development partners (including Higher Education Institutions) as well as internal USAID offices that might want to learn from the RTAC model when designing future USAID mechanisms providing similar types of support for future programming.

Before RTAC’s end, PRB also developed a research-to-action training for ITR/R to deliver internally for other USAID staff. The training provides an overview of relevant concepts, including identifying goals and objectives, learning about stakeholders, and leveraging windows of opportunity. The training materials include slides, guided discussion, and an animated video highlighting the steps in USAID’s recommended approach to research utilization. The animated video, as well as shorter clips for each step, are available on PRB’s YouTube page.