Science & Technology
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emailGOAL: Transform USAID into the global leader in development by pioneering scientific, technological, research-motivated, and innovative approaches to traditional development challenges.
USAID has a proud history of transforming development through science & technology (S&T): from the successful use of oral rehydration therapies to treat diarrheal diseases to the green revolution that transformed agriculture, we seek to create the next set of leapfrogging for development.
As part of our reform efforts, we will:
- Lead the agency to launch a set of Grand Challenges for Development
- Leverage the federal science agencies and academic research investments to address shared challenges that affect Americans at home and developing countries abroad.
- Enhance, build, and support the scientific and technical expertise in the agency
ALIGNMENT WITH STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
According to the National Security Strategy, the United States must leverage its scientific leadership and expand its cooperation and partnership in science and technology, particularly by building stronger relationships between American researchers and institutions and their developing country counterparts. This will allow us to address key challenges that affect us at home and abroad.
The Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development Policy explicitly calls for investments in game-changing innovations with the potential to solve long-standing development challenges, particularly through leveraging the power of research and development, capitalizing on new models for innovation, and by working with developing countries to increase their utilization of science and technology.
USAID is seeking to transform development through science & technology.
THREE FOCUS AREAS
(1) LEADING AGENCY GRAND CHALLENGES FOR DEVELOPMENT
A Grand Challenge in Development is a way to describe the largest, solvable development goals. It is not just a statement of a problem, but a definable, and quantifiable goal, that can be achieved over a specified time frame. USAID will use a framework of Grand Challenges for Development to focus the Agency on critical barriers that impede progress in key development areas and develop impact that will lead to key advances and provide scale to our solutions. USAID will provide and create new opportunities and tools for leapfrogging traditional development barriers and expanding the field of solvers and solutions available to the Agency.
Examples of challenges could include:
- How to sustainably illuminate deep rural communities in the developing world;
- How to ensure all children with 3 years of primary education can read;
- How to provide all women with access to medical care at the time of delivery;
- How to allow the citizens in developing world to monitor & evaluate development efforts.
Goal: Revolutionary leaps forward in development driven by the Grand Challenges that will focus the international community on critical barriers to achieving the MDGs and other major development goals.
(2) LEVERAGING FEDERAL SCIENCE AGENCIES & THE ACADEMIC COMMUNITY FOR DEVELOPMENT
There is insufficient foreign assistance in the world to address the major development problems without leveraging additional resources. USAID should leverage the $148 billion spent on federal science research and the considerable scientific and technical expertise in our federal science agencies and scientific community, and to address major development challenges that affect the United States at home as well as developing countries abroad.
Goals: (1) Leveraging federal research funding to address key scientific and technological barriers, particularly unaddressed multidisciplinary problems (e.g., climate & health), in cooperation with developing countries; (2) Building capacity in developing countries to address their own problems through cooperative applied research.
(3) ENHANCING AND BUILDING CAPACITY WITHIN USAID
USAID will strengthen technical capacity for science, technology, and engineering within the Agency, to provide the tools that technical professionals need to be successful, and help create incentives to encourage them to maintain their skills and knowledge essential for program design, management, and evaluation critical to development.
