Dexis evaluated military grant assistance programs and provided recommendations for how to improve overall effectiveness.
Context
The Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM) serves as the lead bureau for the global management and direction of security assistance programs. Within PM, the Security Assistance office (PM/SA) manages over $7 billion annually in U.S. military grant assistance, benefiting more than one hundred partner nations through policy development, budget formulation, and program oversight. PM/SA oversees two key security assistance programs relevant to this task order: Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and International Military Education and Training (IMET). While FMF and IMET are Department of State (DoS) authorities, the Department of Defense (DoD) is responsible for their implementation. Dexis led a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) effort for both FMF and IMET funding streams under this task order, building upon their previous successful implementation during Phase I of PM/SA AM&E efforts.
Approach
The Dexis team developed a comprehensive M&E framework by identifying security assistance indicators, codifying data collection methods, and detailing the security assistance objectives by which FMF and IMET would be measured. Using this framework, the M&E team conducted country assessments, evaluated the effectiveness of security assistance programs across the 130-country FMF and IMET portfolio, and created analytical products for use by PM and interagency leadership. In Phase II, the team expanded its scope to include more holistic program evaluations, effectively communicating data findings to the interagency security assistance community and establishing repositories of AM&E data accessible to the broader security sector assistance community.
Achievements
The Dexis team identified and documented program trends through a series of country evaluations, which were disseminated across the security assistance interagency. The team was frequently invited to participate in roundtables and meetings to share their expertise, including Assessment, Monitoring, and Evaluation community of interest meetings and the Joint Security Sector Assistance Review. Additionally, the team crafted and utilized innovative data collection tools, such as surveys that captured feedback from political officers in FMF and IMET recipient countries, further contributing to the effectiveness of the security assistance programs.
