Collecting Feedback from Development Program Participants (formerly known as Beneficiary Feedback): A Guide for Implementing partners

Since 2018, U.S. Appropriations law has included a special provision encouraging the use of Development Assistance funds for the regular and systematic collection of feedback obtained directly from program participants. To support these special provisions, USAID created Collecting Feedback from Development Program Participants, a guide for USAID implementing partners to integrate the collection and use of program participant feedback into their USAID funded development activities. It describes basic concepts and general good practices for collecting and responding to feedback. 

USAID has incorporated requirements for USAID staff to include collecting feedback from beneficiaries (also referred to as program participants in this guide) as part of awards to implementing partners. USAID is working through rulemaking processes that will apply standard provisions to programmatic acquisition instruments to require they include plans for collecting feedback from participants in their Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Plans (also referred to as "AMELPs").

This version relied substantially on work commissioned and funded by USAID called Collecting Feedback from Beneficiaries of Development Programs, a Guide for Implementing Partners, produced in draft for comment in September 2022 and updated to incorporate feedback from numerous USAID partners and members of the public in April 2023.