The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is having a significant impact in countries around the world, and USAID and its partners are responding to the pandemic at home and abroad. As we respond, we continue to monitor, evaluate and learn from our programs in the changing operating environment. With limitations on travel, remote monitoring is even m...

Sampling is the process of studying a subset of a population for the purposes of describing or testing questions about a whole population. At USAID, sampling may be used to collect data for baselines, evaluations (both impact evaluations and performance evaluations), assessments that require survey data, and in some cases in indicator rep...

The Program Cycle Learning Study (PCLS) used a qualitative case study approach to provide a systematic and holistic understanding of how four Missions understand and implement the Program Cycle. The study offers examples of how Missions implement the Program Cycle on a day-to-day basis and provides evidence and insight into the effects of...

This slide deck, from a presentation to the Local Systems Community by Tjip Walker and David Jacobstein, shows various ways in which assessing the political economy of a context and understanding that context through the lens of systems thinking can reinforce each other. Effective systems practice should be grounded in the incentives and ...

Focus group interviews (also often called focus group discussions) are a key tool for collecting data to support many USAID activities. This data collection technique is widely used in international development planning, monitoring, and evaluation. They are quick, versatile and typically inexpensive, so they can be used with a broad range...

These tips are part of a series of tips and resources to support context-driven adaptation in programming. For other resources, see the Context-Driven Adaptation Collection at https://usaidlearninglab.org/context-driven-adaptation-overview (internal staff version at https://programnet.usaid.gov/collection/context-driven-adaptation) or the...

The Performance Management Plan (PMP) Task Schedule provides a comprehensive and interactive schedule of all of the monitoring, evaluation, and Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) tasks that will occur over the expected life of the Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS). The Task Schedule helps the Mission ...

A composite indicator (or index) combines two or more data sources into a single measure. From the Self-Reliance Metrics to the CSO Sustainability Index, composite indicators are everywhere at USAID. They are in our Country Development Cooperation Strategies and in the Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning plans.This webinar provi...

This blog was written by Nancy Peek, M&E Fellow, USAID/KEA/FFP and Laurie Starr, Strategic Learning Advisor, Save the ChildrenIntroductionAdaptive management is a key principle that supports ADS 201 and is described as a structured, iterative process for making decisions in “response to changes in context and new information…...