Many social innovation funders struggle with the same challenge: How do they meaningfully measure their impact as funders? As funders, the theory of change connecting their funding to ultimate development outcomes is intrinsically attenuated due to the nature of a funder’s role, which is to catalyze and support others, such as direct service providers, in driving development impact. Like other such funders, USAID’s tiered, evidence-based innovation fund - Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) - has tested various methodologies for measuring its impact. Since its inception in 2010, it has invested over $105 million in 183 awards to pilot, test, and scale innovations across all sectors in which USAID operates and the majority of countries in which USAID works. How has DIV refined a social rate of return methodology to assess its impact? And, what has been the portfolio-level impact of these investments? Join Michael Kremer - leading Harvard development economist, DIV co-founder, and DIV Scientific Director - to find out.
Gates Professor of Developing Societies, Department of Economics, Harvard University
Michael Kremer is the Gates Professor of Developing Societies in the Department of Economics at Harvard University. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a Presidential Faculty Fellowship, and was named a Young Global... Read More →
