Using Evidence at the State Department

The State Department is identifying tools, resources, and processes to develop – and institutionalize – a culture of generating and using evidence to improve aid effectiveness. External stakeholder engagement is critical to enhancing access to quality research. As such the Department is creating the State Evidence and Learning (SEAL) partnership to support its learning agenda. Through the SEAL partnership, the Department and external research entities will benefit from a wider array of high-quality information, research, and analysis that each entity alone could not achieve. The SEAL partnership will also allow the Department to better tell its story by translating rigorous research into easy-to-read content and amplify dissemination for diverse audiences. Similarly, to ensure overall findings from the learning agenda are used across the Department, State is creating “learning briefs”. These 3-4 page documents summarize key findings and recommendations in non-technical language and use high-impact graphics to focus readers’ attention on actionable data.