Results     Core Values      Customers      Results      Teamwork      Empowerment/       Accountability      Diversity     Sources     FAQ     Glossary     USAID ADS Updated 10/10/02

USAID defines teamwork as the coming together of a group of people who are:

Participation is the active involvement of people in decisions that affect them. At USAID, we seek to involve customers, partners, and stakeholders. Partners are those individuals and organizations who work with us (formally or informally) to achieve shared objectives. Stakeholders are individuals and organizations who have an interest in the outcome of USAID programs.

The objective of participation is to improve the quality of our decisions and to ensure that we have the support we need from others to succeed. In the case of public-private alliances, participation means jointly defining the development problem and its solutions with partners. An agreement is then reached between the development partners to share resources, risks, and results in pursuit of an objective that can be better obtained through joint effort. USAID encourages participation by following the principle of "joint planning." Joint planning means plans made are vetted with those parts of the organization that have a stake or interest in our plans. The object of joint planning is to ensure broader Agency ownership and support for our plans and actions.

How does USAID practice teamwork and participation?

USAID's ADS 202 (PDF 618KB) locates the responsibility for achieving the Agency's goals and strategic objectives in a Strategic Objective (SO) team. An SO Team is a group of people with complementary skills who are empowered to achieve a specific USAID development objective for which they are willing to be held accountable. The primary responsibility of SO Teams is to make decisions, carry out activities, and manage resources related to accomplishing tangible results. Another essential function is to ensure open communication and collaboration across organizational boundaries at all phases of the development process and to ensure accountability for resources and results. SO Teams may decide to organize sub-teams if they wish, to more efficiently manage complex SOs. SO Teams are composed of USAID employees and those partners and customers considered to be essential for achieving the SO.

SO Teams use many different means of ensuring broad participation beyond recruitment of non-USAID team members. These include participatory planning and evaluation methods, regularly scheduled consultative groups, rapid appraisal techniques, etc. Through active participatory processes, the SO Team ensures that USAID partners and customers are engaged in program planning, achieving, and assessing and learning.

The composition of an SO Team is illustrated in the diagram below:

The responsibilities of the SO Team are defined in ADS 200-203 and summarized in the table below.

See the full sections from the Automated Directives System (ADS) Series 200, Chapters 200-203 on the responsibilities of an SO Team consult, in particular, ADS 200.3.2.3, ADS 201.4, and ADS 202.3 at ADS Series 200.

Building Teamwork in USAID's Dominican Republic Mission (PDF 49KB)

Productive and Counterproductive Role Behaviors of Team Members