Abstract
The Feed the Future (FTF) Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy (FSP IL) consists of three consortium members -- Michigan State University (MSU) as prime, and the International Food and Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and University of Pretoria (UP), as subcontractors -- that seek to contribute to Feed the Future's goal of significant reductions in poverty and hunger among poor people through facilitating host-government policy changes that expand inclusive economic growth and reduce malnutrition. The purpose of the FSP IL mid-term performance evaluation is to assess whether FSP IL is on track to achieve these expected outcomes and to identify what, if any, adjustments are needed to improve implementation and better achieve FSP IL outcomes at the Sub-Intermediate Result level. The evaluation was conducted over a seven-month period, from January to July 2017. The evaluation team used a mixed-methods approach to assess the performance of the FSP IL, including: document review; field visits to Tanzania and Myanmar; focus group discussions and key informant interviews with stakeholders; an online questionnaire in Tanzania, Myanmar, Malawi, Nigeria, Zambia, and South Africa; and analysis of existing project databases. This report summarizes the principal findings of the evaluation, and includes 20 priority recommendations for strengthening implementation of the project for the length of the project (LOP), and 14 recommendations for future USAID/Bureau for Food Security (BFS) initiatives to strengthen the national, regional, and global policy environment in countries where USAID has Feed the Future projects. (Author abstract)