“What’s in an acronym?” Decoding CLA and STIP
The USAID LEARN contract has been working with USAID’s Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning (PPL) since January 2015 to support USAID missions, operating units, and implementing partners to integrate collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) throughout the Program Cycle. Recently, we began working with the U.S. Global Development Lab (the Lab) to integrate Science, Technology, Innovation, and Partnership (STIP) throughout the Agency’s work and in part through the Program Cycle.
Our main conclusion over the last few months of working together is that—despite lacking one shared letter in our respective acronyms—CLA and STIP have so much in common and are at the very least, mutually reinforcing. But that is coming from people who work everyday on these issues/constructs/acronyms. We recognize that for those not steeped in this, it can be downright confusing, and many within and outside the Agency (including ourselves, at first) are left wondering:
- How are collaborating, learning, and adapting and Science, Technology, Innovation, and Partnership the same? (And preceding this question: what is CLA and what is STIP?)
- How are they different?
- What are our shared objectives and approaches?
- Can we manage to stop confusing people with so many acronyms (and constructs)?!?!
So what have we learned over the last few months that’s worth your reading time? Well, from the 10,000 ft. view—at least up until now—we have found that:
- CLA and STIP share the same overall goal—getting better development outcomes. By being intentional about collaborating, learning, and adapting, working with nontraditional partners, and using the latest research, data, technology, and innovative approaches available to us, we believe we can accelerate development impact. This is something that all of us want as development professionals.
- Examples of CLA and STIP in action are often the same. Someone from PPL might call this a CLA case and someone from the Lab might call it a STIP case. Neither is wrong. There are any number of examples of good development in action that have elements of both CLA and STIP. This also means that tools—collaboration mapping, systems mapping, lean experimentation, scenario planning, user-centered design approaches, adaptable mechanisms, Broad Agency Announcements, etc.—are both CLA and STIP tools.
- CLA and STIP integration face the same institutional challenges at USAID (and implementing partners). In trying to integrate CLA and STIP, we have found countless similarities in both institutional barriers and enablers of integration. The CLA framework includes a focus on organizational enabling conditions—culture, processes, and resources—that similarly matters to STIP integration.
- Those on the cutting edge of development are thinking about both CLA and STIP. There has been significant—almost eerie—overlap in the USAID missions working to more intentionally integrate both CLA and STIP. We think this is because these missions are at the forefront of improving how they deliver assistance, and both CLA and STIP are seen as working in service to that aim.
- Related to this, neither PPL or the Lab has “exclusive rights” to CLA or STIP. USAID operating units and implementing partners have been integrating these concepts for a long time, but both PPL and the Lab exist to support and re-emphasize these efforts so they become more systematic and intentional. Both also act as a resource on the “latest and greatest” around CLA and STIP for others at USAID and implementing partners.
As the saying goes, “all models are wrong but some are useful.” In that humble spirit, we have mapped CLA and STIP to one another in the detailed charts below, using each as the original frame of reference so you can choose your own adventure to understand the nuts and bolts of each and how they compare. We hope these charts better answer the questions: What is CLA? What is STIP? How are they related? What are our some of our shared objectives and interests? And in some cases, where is there variation?
Table 1: Starting from CLA
What is CLA? | How does STIP relate? | |
Collaborating (C) Strategically identifying stakeholders that are critical to achieving development outcomes and identifying ‘best fit’ approaches for collaboration (from consultation to co-creation) | Within Science (S), key partners in conducting and applying research to development challenges include local researchers, local and international academic institutions, and other U.S. government agencies (such as NASA, NOAA, USDA ,etc.). Within Technology (T), key partners include host government entities and others with reliable data sets and sources to improve decision-making. For digital finance, mobile money, and other ICT initiatives, financial institutions, mobile technology providers, and entrepreneurs are critical for success. Innovation (I) emphasizes collaboration with non-traditional partners in co-creation processes with USAID, and prizes and challenges target support to anyone who has a viable solution to intractable development challenges. Partnerships (P) refer primarily to various forms of collaboration with the private sector to address development challenges. | |
Learning (L) Intentionally drawing on evidence and experience to inform decision-making | The Lab considers a commitment to learning—designing and assessing programs with an eye towards constant improvement—one of its core values. It underlies all of its work, but specific approaches to learning and adapting include: Science (S) focuses on the use of applied research to address development challenges. This usually involves international and local academic institutions with a strong understanding of the existing technical evidence base and local context identifying evidence-based solutions that can then be applied in programming. Technology (T) includes a strong focus on data visualization and real-time data approaches that enable learning and better decision-making. This includes capabilities in geo-spatial mapping, trends and futures analysis, and real-time data collection and analysis. Innovation (I) emphasizes the use of iterative design and implementation techniques, including piloting, testing, adapting, and scaling what is found to be effective. These approaches require intentional and continuous learning and adapting. Partnerships (P) enable USAID to learn and adapt with and from the private sector and other non-traditional actors working with us in the growing development landscape. | |
Adapting (A) Intentionally applying learning for continuous improvement | ||
Table 2: Starting from STIP
What is STIP? | How does CLA relate? | |
Science (S) Systematic study of the nature and behavior of the social, material and physical universe, based on observation, experiment, and measurement, and the formulation of laws and hypotheses to describe these facts in general terms | Collaborating (C): Scientific research, to be useful to communities and countries facing development challenges and ultimately applied, should be done in close collaboration with key local stakeholders and bring in relevant regional and international resources. Learning (L): Scientific research is one possible approach to learning. Within the CLA framework under Learning, scientific research could be a key input for:
Adapting (A): Based on findings, programs may have to change or introduce new approaches that are deemed more effective based on scientific research. | |
Technology (T) Product of scientific knowledge and engineering and their application to practical problems, including the tools, processes, and techniques used in that process | The Lab promotes the use of digital development principles (which aren’t only specific to digital programming but development writ-large) when designing or implementing technology-related programming. These principles, mapped to CLA, include: Collaborating (C): Design with the user, Be collaborative, Build for sustainability, Address privacy and security, Use open standards, open data, open source, and open innovation. Learning (L): Understand the existing ecosystem, Be data driven, Design for Scale. Adapting (A): Reuse and improve. In addition, the Lab’s development informatics team works on the use of technology to enable real-time data use for adaptive management. | |
Innovation (I) Products, processes, tools, approaches, service delivery models, and/or other interventions (broadly defined) that have the potential to achieve significant improvements in development outcomes | Collaborating (C): Co-creating solutions to development challenges with local and international stakeholders; user-centered design approaches; mapping existing stakeholders and systems. Learning (L) & Adapting (A): Designing and implementing iteratively with clear checkpoints for learning and adapting. | |
Partnerships (P) A collaborative working relationship with external, non-governmental partners in which the goals, structure, and governance, as well as roles and responsibilities, are mutually determined and decision-making is shared | Collaborating (C): Partnerships in service of effective collaboration and ultimately improving development outcomes. | |
Now for that last question—can we manage to stop confusing people with so many acronyms (and constructs)? We’re going to be completely honest and say, “probably not.” The acronyms will continue, as they always do in development, but we hope this blog has reduced some confusion by explaining what these acronyms really represent and, perhaps more importantly, how they relate to one another and might help improve the way we deliver development assistance throughout the world.
We look to go below the 10,000 ft. level in future blogs to talk about the work underneath these acronyms and constructs. In the meantime, we would love to hear from you if you have additional questions or want us to cover additional topics about CLA and STIP. And if you have your own perspective on how CLA and STIP relate (or don’t), we’d love to hear it!
*Disclaimer: The Science, Technology, Innovation and Partnership definitions are intentionally broad so people can understand how their efforts might fit in but in follow-on posts, we may choose to narrow the definitions to the one’s used by the Lab or specific to an activity.