Program Design and Performance Management Toolkit

Steps and tools provided in the Program Design and Performance Management (PD/PM) Toolkit can be applied to new and ongoing State Department programs, projects, and processes across diplomatic engagement, administration, and foreign assistance. This Toolkit is designed to be applicable to all bureaus, offices, and posts and the templates can be customized to fit your needs.

The PD/PM Toolkit will help bureaus, offices, and posts design their activities in a way that effectively advances broader strategic goals, utilizes useful monitoring and evaluation, and enables learning to occur that can inform future decisions. It can be used as a manual for creating and executing a new program, or can be employed mid-program to determine if the effort is on track.

The PD/PM Toolkit outlines the major steps of program design and performance management along with suggested tools and templates for completing each step. Completing each step will provide bureaus, offices, and posts with a program summary as well as a performance management plan that can be used for knowledge management, accountability, and to communicate about the program internally to leadership and staff and externally to partners, implementers, or other stakeholders.

The PD/PM Toolkit was jointly developed by the Office of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources and the Bureau of Budget and Planning (BP). Because some State programs are coordinated with USAID, to encourage congruence and a common lexicon, concepts from the USAID Automated Directives System (ADS) are incorporated where possible.