USAID General Publications ADS Chapter 201: Program Cycle Operational Policy

The Program Cycle is USAID’s operational model for planning, delivering, assessing, and adapting development programming in a given region or country to advance U.S. foreign policy and national security. It encompasses guidance and procedures for:
- Making evidence-based strategic decisions at the regional or country level about programmatic areas of focus, including efforts to advance a more coherent humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) approach as appropriate and feasible;
- Designing projects and/or activities, and practicing development diplomacy, to implement these strategic plans; and
- Learning from performance monitoring, evaluations, and other relevant sources of information to make course corrections as needed and inform future programming.