US Foreign Policy and Foreign Assistance: Toward Strategic Evaluation and Adaptive Learning

Before the recent closure of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and deep cuts to the State Department, past administrations debated how to reform U.S. foreign policy and foreign assistance to ensure that diplomatic and development interventions focus on concrete outcomes and impact. For instance, in recent years, leaders have analyzed data from discrete foreign assistance projects to determine their "cost effectiveness" in meeting development goals, as well as quantitatively assessed which diplomatic strategies led to the most successful voting patterns at the United Nations. What has worked (and not worked), and how can foreign policymakers develop a successful adaptive learning approach going forward?

Dafna H. Rand, PhD, is the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and the author of the first State Department Learning Agenda. Previously, she directed the U.S. State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance, overseeing $70 billion in annual U.S. foreign aid. Rand has held multiple positions in the U.S. government, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, member of the Secretary’s Policy Planning staff, and National Security Council official. Additionally, she served as a professional staff member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Rand has also published two books on the Middle East and is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Foreign Policy program. 

This seminar will be held in E53-482 (Millikan Room). Lunch will be available. Please RSVP here.

Contact Kate Danahy at kdanahy@mit.edu with any questions. 

This event is part of the CIS Global Research & Policy Seminar Series. Join our mailing list here to learn about upcoming seminars in the series.