Evaluation of HIV/AIDS Programs

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Photo credit: Holly Powers/USAID Southern Africa

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) systematically collects and analyzes information of its activities and projects in order to improve effectiveness and help inform decisions about current and future programming. Evaluations are valuable in helping to explain why programs are succeeding or possibly not meeting their targets. They can also provide recommendations for how activities can adapt to improve performance, ensuring investments are being spent wisely.

Relevant and high-quality evaluations are critical to tracking the progress, results and effectiveness of international development programs. To improve the quality of all evaluations, USAID evaluations must adhere to the requirements and quality standards set forth by USAID's Evaluation Policy [PDF, 284KB], the Program Cycle Operational Policy (ADS 201) [PDF, 1.6MB], and the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Evaluation Standards of Practice [PFD, 1.2MB].

USAID also continuously ensures that evaluations:

  • Are well-planned and adequately resourced
  • Respond to evidence and programmatic needs
  • Are used for planning and decision-making

USAID's evaluation activities cover a wide array of efforts, including:

  • Collaborating with national governments to develop and implement evaluation plans that will improve the collection, analysis and use of data
  • Planning and implementing high-quality performance evaluations to assess the effectiveness of USAID-funded programs to ensure results are being achieved with U.S. Government investments
  • Designing and implementing rigorous impact evaluations that can generate evidence to inform effective planning and efficient interventions
  • Conducting formative assessments, special studies and other types of evaluative activities to inform the planning and implementation of programs

USAID requires the dissemination of evaluation findings on the Development Experience Clearinghouse to ensure that information is accessible to the public. Best practices and lessons learned are shared to promote information exchange. USAID also promotes an open data policy through a publicly-available central repository, structuring the data to ensure usability, while also providing protections for privacy and security.

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