Results     Core Values     Sources      GPRA      Strategic Plan      Best Practices      Partnerships     FAQ     Glossary     USAID ADS Updated 10/10/02

SUMMARY OF USAID DEFINITIONS FROM THE AUTOMATED DIRECTIVES SYSTEM (ADS)

Agency Strategic Plan (ASP): The overall Agency plan for providing development and humanitarian assistance; the strategic plan articulates the Agency's mission, goals, objectives, and program approaches. The Agency Strategic Plan is coordinated with and reflects U.S. Government foreign policy priorities, as described in the International Affairs Strategic Plan (IASP). (Chapters 200-203)

Agency Strategic Framework: A graphical or narrative representation of the Agency's Strategic Plan. The framework is a tool for communicating USAID's development strategy. The framework also establishes an organizing basis for measuring, analyzing, and reporting results of Agency programs. (Chapters 200-203)

Strategic Plan: A document used to describe and obtain approval for one or more Strategic Objectives or Special Objectives to be implemented by an Operating Unit. Approved Operating Unit Strategic Plans represent an Agency-wide commitment to a set of objectives and Intermediate Results (IRs) to be accomplished by an Operating Unit. (Chapters 200-203, 204) A summary of the Agency's Strategic Plan is provided below.

Elements of the Agency Strategic Plan (submitted September 1997, revised 2000) 10 year timeline (1997-2007) identifies:

The USAID Strategic Plan is an expanded and more detailed version of USAID's Strategies for Development (1994) http://www.dec.org/pdf_docs/PNABQ636.pdf Strategies for Sustainable Development is explicit about economic and social growth that:

• does not exhaust the resources of a host country;
• respects and safeguards the economic, cultural, and natural environment;
• creates many incomes and chains of enterprises;
• is nurtured by an enabling policy environment; and
• builds indigenous institutions that involve and empower the citizenry.

As required by the GPRA, the Strategic Plan was prepared in consultation with the Agency's oversight Committees on Capitol Hill and its external partners, including the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid. During these consultations, USAID added a sixth goal focused on human capacity building, and gave increased emphasis to agricultural development. The Strategic Plan was submitted to the Congress on September 30, 1997, and covers the period 1997-2007.

The Strategic Plan was updated in 2000 to include a description of where and how USAID works, to revise the Agency's approach to performance goals, and to add five cross-cutting themes: Gender, Institutional and Organizational Development, Civil Society Development, Crisis Management, and Information Technology. In considering the advantages and limitations of alternate approaches to performance planning and reporting, USAID decided in the 2000 Revised Plan to use its operating unit strategic objectives and indicators as the Agency's performance goals for the purpose of GPRA planning and reporting, including the Agency Strategic Plan, the Annual Performance Plan, and the Annual Performance Report.

MISSION

USAID contributes to U.S. national interests by supporting the people of developing and transitional countries in their efforts to achieve enduring economic and social progress and to participate more fully in resolving the problems of their countries and the world.

The Agency Strategic Plan indicates that USAID typically works in countries committed to achieving sustainable development, but which lack the technical skills or resources necessary to implement policies and programs that will accomplish this result. In these countries, USAID's program emphasizes one or more of the Agency's strategic goals depending upon a country's specific needs and opportunities and the activities of other donors. USAID also works in countries that have committed to working with the United States to achieve peace and other mutual goals, to achieving economic reforms, and to rebuilding after conflicts or natural disasters.

USAID pursues its mission through partnerships with the people and governments of assisted countries, U.S. businesses, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), cooperatives, the U.S. higher education community, other U.S. government agencies and international assistance agencies, including international financial institutions, multilateral and bilateral donors, and private foundations. USAID also seeks to strengthen the capacities of host governments and its U.S. and local partners to expand their development and humanitarian activities.

The Agency Strategic Plan lists six program goals and their corresponding objectives and performance measures:

These six program goals are grouped under three pillars:

Pillar I: Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade (Program Goals 1, 3, 5)

Pillar II: Global Health (Program Goal 4)

Pillar III: Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (Program Goals 2, 6)

Agency Annual Performance Plan:

Performance Plan (also called "Development Performance Benchmark")

• Indicator -- measures for comparing actual results with projected results
• Justification for choice of indicator
• Indicator sources -- means for verification and validation of measured results
• Indicator definition

The Agency Performance goals included in the September 1997 USAID Strategic Plan, revised in 2000, are summarized below.

These performance goals and USAID's approach to performance measurement and reporting are updated in the Annual Performance Plans submitted to OMB. View USAID's current Annual Performance Plan at http://www.dec.org/partners/2001_app/

Review of Agency Annual Performance Plans

OMB guidance indicates that an annual performance plan will appear in several iterations. The first is sent to OMB for their review in September with the agency budget request. The second iteration, called the revised performance plan, is sent to Congress in February, coincident with the President's budget and used by Congress during the authorization and/or appropriations processes.

In reviewing Agency performance plans, OMB looks at factors such as

• program coverage;
• indicators;
• alternative forms of measurement;
• verification and validation issues;
• clarity and cohesiveness of mission statement and general goals and objectives;
• external factors;
• program evaluations; and
• budget account restructuring.

Performance Accountability Report (formerly known as Agency Performance Report)

• Actual performance achieved vs. goals (targets) set for the year -includes measurement data collected and analyzed.
• Explanation of any goals that were not met.
• Plan for achieving unmet goals.
• Modification of current year's plan in light of previous year's performance.
• Performance information and trend data from previous years.

The Performance Accountability Report provides aggregated performance results for each of USAID's six program goals and the Agency's management goal. View USAID's most recently submitted report at http://www.dec.org/partners/2001_apr/.

Strategic Plans: Mission and Washington-based Operating Units The fundamental building block of all USAID's programs is an integrated country strategy for each field mission and an operating unit strategy for each USAID/Washington office. The following principles have guided strategy formulation:

• Take into account the totality of development problems confronting the society;
• Be developed in close cooperation with host governments, local communities, other donors, and other Development Partners (consultation with Development Partners is subject to Agency guidance on conflict of interest; for further information consult Legal and Policy Considerations when Involving Partners and Customers on Strategic Objective Teams and Other Consultations (Word 104KB)); and
• Consider how social, economic, political, and cultural factors combine to impede development. USAID's Strategic Plan also indicates a continuous process of monitoring and evaluating the performance of its activities.

Each Strategic Plan identifies specific objectives for the Operating Unit to accomplish. These objectives are approved only if they contribute to the goals identified in the Agency's Strategic Plan. The scope and nature of the program and the planning parameters provided by the Bureau determine the substance of each Mission/Operating Unit's Strategic Plan.

Included in each Strategic Plan are the following elements:

1. Relationship to U.S. foreign policy and linkage between the strategy and relevant U.S. State Department Mission Performance Plans.

• Overview of country conditions /discussion of transnational trends, including the causes and potential risks of any major social and/or political conflict.
• The country poverty reduction strategy, if any.
• Assistance expected from other donors.
• Prior experience working with the country and impact of any previous USAID assistance.

2. Rationale for Choice of Strategic and Special Objectives and time frame.

• Linkages to Agency Goals and Objectives.
• Country goals and subgoals.
• Explanation of each Strategic and Special Objective.
• Appropriate timeframe.
• Discussion of process used to obtain customer input.
• Other donors' and partners' contributions.

3. Brief summary of each proposed Strategic or Special Objective.

• Intermediate results sufficient to achieve the objectives. The results framework shows how the objectives are linked, through a hierarchy of results, to USAID's interventions. The results framework clearly articulates the hypotheses and assumptions upon which the achievement of the strategic objective is based. A results framework must be both technically-sound to sector specialists and believable to the informed public.
• Performance indicators for strategic objectives and key results, along with baseline data and targets if possible. Performance monitoring keeps managers informed about whether activities are on track, exceeding, or falling short of expectations, and helps them identify when corrective actions may be needed.
• Justification for the overall volume of activity based on resources available.
• Illustrative activities and general approaches to achieve results.
• Program monitoring system.

4. Summary of resources needed for all Strategic and Special Objectives

• Detailed estimate of all resources needed for the plan by fiscal year, including funds and personnel.
• Discussion of factors influencing the budget, including host country and other partner contributions, inflation, foreign exchange risk and other factors.

5. Program Management

• Which Operating Units will be directly involved in managing the activities and how they will be coordinated.
• Personnel requirements.
• Program support requirements.

6. Annexes

• Planning parameters used by the Operating Unit in developing the plan.
• Technical analyses required by USAID/Washington, including gender analysis, environmental analysis, conflict vulnerability analysis.
• Other relevant analyses, such as those required by the planning parameters or analyses of specific sectors, donor coordination, food security, macroeconomic issues, etc.

Related Links:

ADS 201 (PDF 1MB) Guidance on contents of Mission and Operating Units' Strategic Plans (Section 201.3.3.6)

Agency Congressional Presentations will have a summary of the strategic objectives of each Mission's and Washington-based Operating Units.

For more program information, guidance, or other information to facilitate your work with USAID, check out USAID Partner Resources Site at http://www.dec.org/partners/