For more than 30 years the Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP) has served as a principal strategy to implement the grand vision of strengthening USAID‘s research engagement with U.S. universities under Title XII of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended (ibid). This review study assesses the CRSP model in the current context of international agriculture and food security research and capacity building. It was initiated in response to USAID Administrator Dr. Raj Shah‘s request to the chair of the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD), Dr. Brady Deaton, that BIFAD commission a study of the CRSP model for USAID research and capacity building partnerships with U.S. universities, in the areas of agriculture and related sciences.