Performance management represents the Agency's commitment to managing for results in order to achieve the best possible development outcomes. A Performance Monitoring Plan (PMP) serves as a road map for monitoring, evaluation and learning from program performance over a CDCS period.

A Performance Management Plan (PMP) elaborates on CDCS commitments to assess program performance by monitoring the status of results indicators and program assumptions and by carrying out evaluations that focus on high priority questions which monitoring alone will not answer. It provides detailed information and a calendar to explain when and how performance data will be collected and analyzed, and it includes baseline values and targets for performance indicators linked to the achievement of each DO included in a CDCS.

USAID's expectation is that Missions will balance the emphasis in their performance monitoring efforts between learning and reporting. Active learning and the use of performance information to make decisions over a CDCS period that enhance achievement is equal in importance to systematic reporting on progress towards targets set for standard indicators that are aggregated Agency-wide. USAID’s most current guidance for developing a PMP is to be found in ADS 201.

There is no standard format for a PMP. Missions are encouraged to use a format that suits their management and communication needs. In practice, most PMPs are divided into large sections that have parallel structures, each of which focuses on a single DO. The PMP outline on this page illustrates the type of structure found in most PMPs, and also serves as a guide to what you will find in this section of the kit. Alternatively, a Mission could prepare separate PMPs for each DO under a CDCS.

This section includes worksheets and templates that will help you develop a PMP based on the indicators identified in the Mission’s CDCS that covers the range of PMP elements called for in ADS 201. The section menu below identifies the segments in this section and highlights some of the tools the kit includes. The Program Cycle menu at the top of this page and the Sitemap provide even more detailed views of the coverage of this section, should you wish to consult them.

PMP Elements on Monitoring, Evaluation or Learning

USAID ADS 201 anticipates that Missions may find it necessary, during implementation to adjust the indicators they use, and provides procedures for doing so. It is not, however, anticipated that performance indicators identified in a CDCS will be changed when a PMP is prepared. This MEL toolkit thus approaches PMP development with the expectation that the performance indicators elaborated will be those submitted in a CDCS.

Throughout this kit, the term PMP is used exclusively at the program or CDCS level. Following USAID ADS 201, the term Project MEL Plan is used when referring to documents that provide similar coverage to a PMP but focus at the project level. The same is true for Activity MEL Plans, which are prepared in relation to the mechanisms through activities are implemented.