Strategic Cross-Sectoral Development: Initial Lessons from USAID’s Health, Ecosystems and Agriculture for Resilient, Thriving Societies (HEARTH) Program
Session Date: April 21, 2021
Session Description: While theoretically compelling, cross-sectoral, integrated development approaches that deliver One Health solutions lack robust evidence supporting their effectiveness. To address this knowledge gap, in 2019, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) launched Health, Ecosystems, and Agriculture for Resilient, Thriving Societies (HEARTH), an initiative to co-design integrated activities with private sector partners to conserve high-biodiversity landscapes and improve the well-being and prosperity of communities that depend on these landscapes. HEARTH is predicated on robust monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL) to generate evidence about the conditions under which market-based, cross-sectoral programming improves development outcomes. HEARTH partnerships are developing similar interventions, including supporting conservation enterprises, improving health care quality and access, training and capacity building, governance and institutional strengthening, and land use planning and zoning. These common approaches, implemented across diverse landscapes provide ideal opportunities to fill knowledge gaps in cross-sectoral, market-based development. HEARTH activities will collect data on a common set of cross-sectoral indicators, and where appropriate, employ impact evaluations to measure biophysical and human well-being changes across sectors. As of January