Released by Results for America (RFA) on December 3, 2020, the 2020 Invest in What Works Federal Standard of Excellence report once again shows that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is a leader among Federal Departments and Agencies on data-driven decision-making. The report highlights nine U.S. Government entities for using data and evidence effectively in budgetary, policy, and management decisions, and features the significant progress USAID has made to operate efficiently, including in implementing the requirements in the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act). Since 2014, RFA’s Federal Standard of Excellence report has ranked USAID among the top Federal Departments and Agencies for use of evidence in programs and operations. USAID is proud of it’s consistent leadership in using data, and congratulates the other honorees.

USAID has long recognized that using the best-available data and evidence to drive all levels of decision-making is necessary to meet the Agency’s programmatic and policy goals. The findings in RFA’s Federal Standard of Excellence report help USAID to identify areas to improve the use of evidence in decision-making, and to learn from the successful approaches of other U.S. Government Departments and Agencies.

USAID is committed to integrating the use of evidence into operations and policy priorities, including through the Policy Framework; Journey to Self-Reliance Road Maps; the application of zero-based budgeting to both Program and Operating Expense resources; after-action reports; and reviews of USAID’s operational business processes. USAID leads the Federal Government in implementing the Evidence Act: USAID already generates and shares lessons with Operating Units, partners, and the public through Agency-wide Self-Reliance Learning Agenda (SRLA), which serves as the evidence-building plan required by the Act. USAID is also among the first U.S. Government Departments and Agencies to initiate an assessment of it’s capacity for using evidence, and continues to increase public access to, and use of, data through online repositories such as the Development Data Library and Dollars to Results website.