Sector Analyses

The Mission designed the MCST with an awareness that 2022 was a national election year, ushering in a new government and, with it, a change in political context in which USAID would be implementing the final years of its CDCS. Consequently, the Mission decided to divide the MCST into two parts: a retrospective workshop during which the Mission would analyze and reflect on its performance and progress, described above; and a prospective workshop to consider how changes with new national and local government administrations and the abatement of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines would affect the CDCS strategy, and to discuss whether and how to adapt the Mission’s strategy.

Once the elections were complete and the new government was in place, CLAimDev engaged experts to rapidly assess the new context, changing dynamics, and national government’s priorities in six sectors: basic education, higher education, environment and energy, economic growth, and democracy, human rights, and governance. The experts prepared six sector analyses and a synthesis report to serve as a core reference for the Mission’s MSCT partner consultation.

USAID MCST Partner Consultation

On October 7, 2022, the Mission convened its implementing partners, national and local government counterparts, and independent experts for a one-day, in-person consultation as part of its MCST prospective phase. CLAimDev facilitated this partner consultation.

The event began with the independent experts presenting the sectoral analyses and an overview of USAID’s new Policy Framework. After the presentations, CLAimDev facilitated breakout groups to discuss emerging sectoral priorities and challenges. USAID’s partners validated and enriched the sector analyses with their expertise.

USAID Partners' Consultation Summary

Adaptive Management Workshop

The next step in the prospective phase of the MCST was an adaptive management workshop, which CLAimDev facilitated. The Mission reconvened to review what it had learned from the sector analyses and partner consultation. The workshop was an opportunity to consider the CDCS and USAID’s programs and initiatives with the emerging priorities from the stakeholder consultation. During the workshop, the Mission developed a summary decision tree based on changes to assumptions, risks, programming, learning questions, and indicators, building on work from the retrospective phase and preparing for the MCST Capstone Workshop.

The decisions made during the Adaptive Management Workshop became the backbone of the Mission’s draft MCST memo.

Capstone Event

The Capstone Event, held on October 17, 2022, brought the MCST process to a close, socializing what the Mission had learned during the MCST and reaching agreement on the content of the draft MCST information memo.

Reflections: CDCS MCST Process