This piece was originally published in full on Devex.

In the House and Senate budget hearings last week, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson frequently commented that the reduced foreign aid funding levels did not reflect the ability of the State Department and USAID to be effective.

Having worked for two decades on improving the effectiveness of international development programs through monitoring, evaluation, and learning, I agree with his statement that “more money doesn’t necessarily mean better outcomes.” However, I would argue you do need to fund the mechanisms designed to gather evidence about the outcomes and impact of foreign aid.Bar graph showing the proposed U.S. 2018 foreign assistance budget that slashes funding for measurement, evaluation and learning.

The proposed fiscal year 2018 foreign assistance budget slashes funding for the very activities that provide this evidence. If we want the U.S. taxpayer to believe the U.S. government is serious about using evidence for effective foreign aid, Congress should restore this funding.

 

Read the rest of the piece on Devex.