USAID's Integrated Program Cycle USAID Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning February 28, 2012 1
USAID s Program Cycle 2
Discipline of Development Why an Integrated Program Cycle? Strengthened and integrated Program Cycle will enable more effective interventions and maximize development outcomes Provides analysis on what is working, determines priorities based on opportunities and tradeoffs, evaluates projects, and feeds knowledge back into planning, design, and future policy development; identifies necessary course corrections Serves as the basis for a more integrated budget cycle, ensuring that resource decisions are informed by strategic plans and priorities and performance and evaluation data 3
Agency Policies and Strategies PPD-6 and QDDR: Elevate Development as key component to U.S. Foreign Policy (how can each support each other) USAID Policy Framework 2011-2015 implements PPD and QDDR by clarifying USAID s core development priorities and outlining operational principles USAID Forward presents agenda for institutional reform, including revitalized strategic planning, project design, evaluation, Implementation and Procurement Reform, Science and Technology, and Innovation Agency Policies and Strategies (developed through Policy Task Teams) define Agency priorities in specific sectors or priority areas 4
Country Development Cooperation Strategies (CDCS) Called for in PPD-6 and QDDR and USAID Forward Indicator (73 USAID Missions will complete a CDCS by end of FY 2013) Five-year strategies (or less in cases of Transition Strategies) that cover all USAID implemented assistance and serve as development component of Integrated Country Strategies Incorporate Agency Policies/Strategies and input from host country, civil society, private sector, other donors, multi-laterals, and USG agencies through a consultative process Define what outcomes are to be achieved and articulate a development hypothesis about why these results will have a impact as illustrated in a Results Framework (informs PMP) 5
CDCS: Links To Program Cycle Three key CDCS objectives linked to the Program Cycle: Resource Priorities: Influences budget formulation and allocation processes; balances country priorities with Administration and Congressional priorities Defined Results: Defines what results are to be expected within sector allocations at Goal, DO, IR, and sub-ir levels; IRs as basis for Project Design and Evaluation Integrated Outcomes: Outlines how sector allocations and results can be integrated to achieve greater outcomes; often basis for development hypothesis and evaluation questions (eg. geographical and governance); informed by learning 6
Project Design and Implementation Identifies how best to achieve the results articulated in the CDCS and what tools to use A Project is a set of interventions or activities that achieve a result by solving an associated problem (not solely implementing mechanisms) Projects, as illustrated in Logical Frameworks, generally are tied to Intermediate Results (in the CDCS Results Framework) and serve as the basis for future evaluations Process is flexible to encourage continuous learning for adaptive management Guidance requires analytic rigor and introduces a new mandatory requirement to conduct sustainability analysis 7
Project Design and Implementation Emphasizes importance of USAID leadership and broader Program Office to encourage collaboration and ensure rigor Designed to integrate activities, between and within sectors, among office and implementing partners All members of design team will be accountable to achieving or progressing toward the project purpose Mission Directors prioritize projects for full guidance application for missions with approved CDCSs and Feed the Future strategies Missions otherwise prepare, at minimum, an abbreviated Project Appraisal Document and Project Authorization, in lieu of an Activity Approval Document, for new project designs by July 2012 Portfolio transformation is critically to understand relationship of 8 current activities to project
Evaluation and Monitoring Monitoring (required for all projects) Guided by ADS 203.3 (under revision) and CDCS and Project Design guidance Measures changes to reveal if planned results are occurring and whether implementation is on track Missions are required to develop Performance Management Plans (PMPs) after approval of CDCSs that include Performance Measures and identify planned evaluations over the CDCS timeframe Missions must conduct at least one portfolio review each year that draws on evidence of varying types from a broad range of sources and that covers all projects, examines strategic and operational issues, and determines whether activities are leading to the expected results established in their CDCS and PMP 9
Evaluation and Monitoring Evaluation Guided by the USAID Evaluation Policy (approved January 2011) Definition: The systematic collection and analysis of information about programs and projects as a basis for judgments, to improve effectiveness, and to inform programming and management decisions Missions must evaluate all large and innovative projects and must share the findings with the Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC) within three months of completion Purposes: Accountability and Learning. Types: Impact and Performance Evidence from evaluations inform CDCS development and project designs; must be planned in advance during project design 10
Learning and Adapting Missions are encouraged to improve coordination and collaboration with partners, test new approaches, build on what works, and eliminate what does not during implementation Missions should periodically reassess the CDCS s underlying development logic or hypotheses and provide analytic link between CDCS, project designs, implementation and evaluation Learning is also about management structures, and adjusting Mission models to adapt to changing business practices and to ensure effective collaboration across offices to break down stovepipes within the Mission and among partners PPL is developing a Program Cycle Learning Guide to help Missions to define and operationalize a learning agenda, create a learning culture, and facilitate learning among local actors 11
Learning and Adapting Learning is done during each component of Program Cycle Agency Policies and Strategies Evaluations and evidence inform future strategy and policy development Country Development Cooperation Strategies Project Design and Implementation Evaluation and Monitoring Testing development hypothesis informs mid-course corrections and ensures ongoing relevance of strategy Build in learning agenda; design projects to facilitate learning among country actors for maximum relevance, sustainability and country ownership Monitoring plan allows Mission to assess progress toward project outcomes and adjust implementation Critical to understanding why a project achieved or did not achieve intended results; informs project design and strategy 12
Budget and Resources Integrated Budget Cycle Program Cycle components help connect resources to results; the CDCS is designed to inform budget formulation, and together with Project Design to inform budget allocation Development Objectives (DOs) become Post s Mission Objectives in ICS and, along with resource priorities, become basis for MRR, CBJ, OP, and PPR In CDCS, MRR, and CBJ, resources are aligned strategically to DOs and also crosswalked to the F framework to account for the sector-specific allocations Mix between standard indicators and custom ones used to measure integrated outcomes 13
Budget and Resources Streamlining State and USAID are restructuring and connecting the annual planning and reporting processes to each other and the Program Cycle to reduce the burden on the field and improve the quality of data requested and receive Common organizing structures and templates used so that data is entered once and then updated, along with additional detail, as the annual planning process evolves State/USAID Governance Committee manages the emergence of new or changed Foreign Assistance reporting requirements to reduce ad hoc data calls to the field and free up more time for implementing the Program Cycle 14
Support to the Program Cycle Program Cycle where can Missions find help? PPL as 02/94 backstop: The effective implementation of the Program Cycle envisions a robust role for Program Officers and the 02/94 backstop as change-agents at the forefront of USAID's Program Cycle reform agenda Training: PPL is working with HR to revamp and improve the training suite associated with each component of the Program Cycle, and will be conducting trainings in Washington and workshops with Missions on the new materials and requirements ProgramNet: PPL is building a community-of-practice website to provide a forum for discussion and capture suggestions and best practices from the field; will also provide practical tool-kits (programnet.usaid.gov) 15
Support to the Program Cycle Program Cycle Service Center: PPL is funding a Service Center that complements support to missions from PPL staff and other bureaus USAID/Washington Bureaus and Offices are developing a host of tools to support Missions in implementing the Program Cycle, such as: o GeoCenter assists Missions with establishing geospatial capacity and implementing GIS in the CDCS and Project Design processes o Donor Engagement Toolkit serves as an online "one-stopshop" for tools, templates, and guidance for partnering with other donors throughout the Program Cycle 16