The Department of State and USAID, drawing on technical expertise within both agencies, have jointly developed common definitions to describe and account for our foreign assistance programs. The Standardized Program Structure and Definitions establish a consistent way to categorize and account for State-USAID managed assistance, including a set of commonly agreed definitions of what constitutes, for example, a "democracy program." Based on the Strategic Framework for U.S. Foreign Assistance, this document defines the full set of Program Areas and associated activities toward which U.S. foreign assistance is directed. These are common tools for interagency use, and allow us to now speak with a common vocabulary, establish common indicators for measuring performance in order to develop a comprehensive body of knowledge regarding program effectiveness, and respond quickly and transparently to stakeholders.
