The Program Cycle is USAID’s operational model for planning, implementing, assessing, and adapting development programming in a given region or country. The Program Cycle is how policy gets translated into action and how USAID supports countries on their Journey to Self-Reliance.
USAID Learning Lab hosts three toolkits to provide USAID staff and implementing partners with a curated set of resources to plan, implement and integrate monitoring, evaluating and CLA practices into their programs.
Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) is a framework and a set of practices for strengthening organizational learning and the conditions that enable it throughout the Program Cycle to improve our development effectiveness, and support countries on their Journey to Self-Reliance.
This resource, part of the context-driven adaptation collection (see https://usaidlearninglab.org/context-driven-adaptation-overview), provides tips on how to enable context-driven adaptation, or thinking and working politically (TWP), within a USAID strategy. It also... read more
In September 2017, the Digital Finance (DFS) team joined others in the U.S. Global Development Lab to participate in a Developmental Evaluation (DE), a CLA approach. The Uptake DE was focused on understanding the Lab’s most effective approaches to sustained uptake and... read more
The USAID Mission in Lebanon needed to rethink and redesign its strategic approach to its Economic Growth (EG) program, particularly because Lebanon is facing a “jobs crisis” that is threatening its stability. In order to better achieve our Development Objectives, the... read more
CDCS mid-course stocktaking has emerged as one approach to assessing ongoing strategy and program implementation, particularly in light of contextual changes and emerging lessons. It provides an opportunity for the mission to periodically -- and intentionally -- revalidate... read more
We tend to think about poor people in a one-dimensional way (poor people are poor because they don’t have money), which results in program interventions that address only the financial needs of people but do not improve their resilience. This lesson encourages reflection... read more
Library Resource | Apr 30, 2018 | Training Materials
The Political Economy Analysis of Kosovo explicates key trends and identifies opportunities and challenges to needed reforms. Section II discusses the methodology of the report. Section III provides findings on current foundational factors, rules of the game, here and now,... read more
Library Resource | Mar 15, 2018 | Technical Resources
On Wednesday, November 15, 2017 at 8:00 a.m. EST, the Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning (PPL) held a one-hour webinar exploring Strategy-level Portfolio Reviews and Mid Course Stocktaking.
This fall, PPL will release How-To-Notes on Strategy-level Portfolio Reviews... read more
USAID/Food for Peace’s pilot approach, Refine and Implement, builds a one-year refinement period into each activity. At the end of the year, we ask implementing partners to refine their theories of change and implementation planning to better respond to the opportunities... read more