Applying the Innovation Adoption Measurement Approach

This brief describes how projects in Mali and Haiti applied of the Innovation Adoption Measurement Approach, developed by Chemonics expert Dr. Tom Fattori, to support adaptive management on resilience-focused projects. This approach takes the findings from an innovation adoption assessment and identifies specific and actionable recommendations for targeting and improving the adoption of practices that…

Resilience Programming in Support of Reforestation: Emerging Lessons from Haiti

This brief focuses on three key lessons learned — the importance of social capital for resilience, leveraging social capital to establish community buy-in, and linking resilience activities to specific shocks. The USAID Reforestation project team applied this learning to implement a refined reforestation approach, which may be relevant to other projects incorporating components of resilience-building,…

Final Report: Feed the Future Mali Climate Change Adaptation Activity

The Mali Climate Change Adaptation Activity (MCAA) built resilience to climate change by helping individuals, households, organizations, and the government of Mali adapt to shocks and stresses that come with climate change. The final report covers MCCAA’s project impact towards its key objectives, as and discusses the project’s gender and youth inclusion work, security environment…

Final Report: USAID Regional Program for the Management of Aquatic Resources and Economic Alternatives

Biodiversity loss is one of Central America’s most pressing challenges. The five-year, $13.9 million USAID Regional Program for the Management of Aquatic Resources and Economic Alternatives, implemented by Chemonics International, was developed to strengthen coastal-marine resource management and biodiversity conservation while improving the livelihoods of local populations. Population growth in coastal marine areas, climate change,…

3 Questions with Victoria Cooper: Ebola, COVID-19, and Global Development

As chief of party for the USAID Digital Liberia and e-Government project, Vicki Cooper led efforts to strengthen Liberia’s health, education, and economic growth sectors through enhanced information, communication, and technology capabilities in the aftermath of the Ebola epidemic. 1. How can the global development community use lessons learned from the Ebola crisis in Liberia…

3 Questions with Garrett Dorer about Remote Management in the Era of COVID-19

While most development projects use some form of remote management — U.S.-based home offices oversee project offices, main offices in capitals oversee satellite offices, and teams are distributed across multiple countries (e.g., FEWS NET) — the COVID-19 pandemic presents uncharted territories for many in the global development sector. Travel and movement restrictions, work from home…

An Argument for Inclusive Stabilization

Photo courtesy of USAID Colombia Human Rights Activity. This post originally appeared on Devex. When everyone is struggling to recover from violent conflict, singling out one community for assistance among many ethnic and religious identities can actually make matters worse. Yet, to heal the inter-community rifts that set the stage for conflict, targeted outreach to…

Protecting Food Value Chains Across Africa

Aflatoxin is a poison produced by a soil fungus that can infect crops, threatening food security, health, and trade in many developing countries; contaminating the food value chain; and costing hundreds of millions of dollars each year in export opportunities. In Africa specifically, aflatoxin causes stunting in children and an estimated 30 percent of all…

Vulnerability and Adaptation in the Mara River Basin

The Mara River Basin (MRB) is home to more than 1.28 million people in Kenya and Tanzania and supports a number of critically important wildlife areas. However, pressures such as population growth and land use change threaten water resources, and the threat to water resources in turn threatens development of key economic sectors such as…

When Projects Close: Lessons Learned from an Ex-Post Study

As international development professionals, we strive for sustainable project results and an evidence base for our approaches. But the truth is we don’t always know what happens to our efforts after a project closes. Chemonics recently conducted a self-financed ex-post study of a former agriculture project to fill that information gap. While the team did…

Final Report: Mozambique Coastal City Adaptation Project

To strengthen Mozambique’s ability to build resilience to climate change challenges, especially in vulnerable coastal communities, USAID launched the $19.9 million Coastal City Adaptation Project (CCAP) in 2013. Over a five-year period, CCAP worked with municipal governments to increase understanding of urban adaptation issues and increase the application of management options for urban adaptation, particularly…