Pay-for-Results: Better Development Outcomes through Stronger Performance Management

USAID is transforming its processes to increase flexibility, innovation and accountability from design to implementation. The Pay-for-Results (PFR) model is becoming increasingly important as an important tool within development. It can provide partners with more flexibility as to how to accomplish development outcomes, but it also demands greater accountability, with payment made on the accomplishment of development objectives (outcomes) rather than best efforts to achieve them (inputs).  

Marketlinks hosted an interactive webinar on Thursday, August 8th, featuring the authors of a new guidance document, "Setting, Pricing, and Administering Performance Metrics in Pay- for-Results Programming", which was co-authored by USAID and Third Sector Capital Partners. Together, presenters discussed the Pay-for-Results model and outlined the six essential steps that project designers should consider to establish the right set of performance metrics to drive improved performance management when designing PFR programming.

The webinar focused on the following topics and questions:

• What is the Pay-for-Results (PFR) model? What are the benefits, challenges and opportunities for USAID and its implementers in using this approach through traditional USAID grants and contracts for greater development impact?

• What are the six steps that PFR-designers need to take in developing, pricing, and administering appropriate metrics? What components should be considered when going through the steps? 

• What are the concrete examples of PFR efforts in key sectors that have followed each step? What were the measurable outcomes?