Per ADS 201.3.4, an activity carries out an intervention, or set of interventions, typically through a contract, grant, or agreement with another U.S. Government agency or with the partner country government. An activity also may be an intervention undertaken directly by Mission staff that contributes to a project, such as a policy dialogue.
In the case of an awarded activity, implementers are expected to submit an Activity Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Plan to their Agreement Officer’s Representative/Contracting Officer’s Representative (AOR/COR) within the first 90 days of an award (ADS 201.3.4.10).
The Activity MEL Plan should include any plans for internal evaluations, to include the type of evaluation (performance or impact), possible evaluation questions, estimated budget, planned start date, and estimated completion date. The Activity MEL Plan should also include information for ensuring that any planned external or USAID-led evaluations will have access to appropriate data collected by the implementer, such as performance monitoring data.
In the case of a Government to Government (G2G) activity, an Activity MEL Plan should be created by the Government Agreement Technical Representative (GATR) or G2G POC in collaboration with the partner government. Generally, if at the activity level, the GATR should emphasize the use of partner government M&E systems.