It’s So “Refreshing”: Using Adaptive Management Tools and a Focus on Enabling Conditions to Support a Complex USAID Policy Revision Process

The Feed the Future Knowledge, Data, Learning, and Training (KDLT) activity partnered with the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security (RFS) Program Office over nearly a year to help design and implement the process to “refresh” the Global Food Security Strategy (GFSS-R). The GFSS is a complex, whole-of-government effort guiding $2 billion per year of Feed the Future assistance to promote global food security, resilience, and nutrition. Several dimensions of the refresh process - a tight timeline, wide breadth of stakeholders and equities, and high-profile nature of the effort - demanded that KDLT and the Program Office adopt CLA approaches to maximize efficiency and develop a transparent consultative process. The KDLT team leveraged deep experience with multi-stakeholder process consultation, designing and leading online events, facilitating pause and reflect activities, developing effective knowledge management strategies, and conducting qualitative data analysis to drive decision making to support the Program Office and RFS. The GFSS-R process concluded on time and is now seen by many within the Agency as an example of how to effectively implement consultative processes to revise large-scale policies and strategies.