QED’s Deputy M&E Director Presents at USDA-USAID International Food Security Conference

On October 10 and 11, QED participated in the 2016 International Food Assistance and Food Security Conference, an event jointly hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

QED’s Eric Benschoter, Deputy Director of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), was a panelist for the “Learning Agendas” session, informing participants of how to effectively conduct and use learning agendas to work more efficiently on activities related to evaluation, evidence, and decision-making. QED’s work developing a learning agenda for the USDA McGovern-Dole Food for Education Child Nutrition Program was shared and discussed as an example of using evidence and research to improve program outcomes and strategic objectives.

This learning agenda was developed as part of the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service’s Results-Oriented Management Program (ROM), currently implemented by QED, which seeks to improve program planning, measuring, monitoring and reporting by focusing on intended outcomes and not solely inputs and outputs of activities. QED helps USDA ensure management decisions are based on strong evidence to improve accountability, transparency, and learning from its programs.

Learn more about the 2016 International Food Assistance and Food Security Conference by clicking here.