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Strengthening Program Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation at State

Posted Jun 18, 2018

By April Linton

Toolkit ImageThe State Department’s Program Design and Performance Management Toolkit

To strengthen and codify many sound program and project performance management practices already in place at the Department of State, and to position us to meet requirements of the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act (FATAA) and the Program Management Improvement and Accountability Act (PMIAA), we expanded the Department’s evaluation policy to become a comprehensive Program and Project Design, Monitoring and Evaluation Policy.

Toolkit SectionsToolkit Sections

The policy, which maintains existing evaluation requirements, includes program design and monitoring elements to strengthen the Department’s ability to tell its story to the American people and show accountability for results by implementing best practices in performance management. The State Department Program Design and Performance Management Toolkit guides program and project managers through each step of the new policy. Performance specialists continue to conduct outreach and training, including the establishment of a Community of Practice, to assist bureaus in achieving each aspect of the policy. The policy and Toolkit are publicly available for downloading here.

April Linton is a performance analyst on the Planning and Performance Management team within the State Department’s Office of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources. Her team provides the Department with policy, guidance, technical assistance, and tools for strategic planning, program design, performance monitoring, and evaluation.


The opinions expressed in this guest post are the author's own and do not reflect the view of the Performance Improvement Council or U.S. General Services Administration.