This indicator provides a necessary output-level counterpart to the outcome-level indicator CBLD-9, ‘Percent of USG-assisted organizations with improved performance.’ Launched in FY19, CBLD-9 is the Agency’s primary indicator for measuring organizational performance improvement, with over 80 Operating Units (OUs) reporting on it in FY22. It is used for learning and Congressional reporting on a variety of programming, including Local Works, New Partnerships Initiative, Feed the Future, and other programming in health, education, environment, democracy and governance, and private sector engagement (among other sectors).
Over four years of providing coaching and technical assistance to Missions on CBLD-9, indicator owners have seen a major pain point emerge: Capacity strengthening takes time, and outcome-level results cannot be shown within the first year -and often even within the first few years -of an activity. This clashes with the Agency operating environment, in which partners and Mission staff are held accountable for indicator results. The result is an incentive to lower the threshold for “performance improvement,” instead reporting on improvements in capacity (not performance) or simply reporting on implementation of capacity strengthening support. In short, this results in inflated numbers under CBLD-9.
