The Water and Development Indicator Handbook presents the set of performance monitoring indicators used to measure progress against the United States (U.S.) Government Global Water Strategy and United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Water and Development Plan. These indicators are designed to measure progress against each development result (DR) in the Water and Development Plan results framework. USAID’s standard indicators are aligned with global monitoring efforts surrounding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As the sector moves towards achieving higher levels of water and sanitation services, additional indicators are used to track progress towards safely managed services.
This handbook is intended to be used by USAID staff and implementing partners involved in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programming in order to ensure correct use of USAID’s standard indicators. This handbook includes all current standard performance indicators, including those added in Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 to align with global sector monitoring as well as those added in FY 2018 to align with the new USAID Water and Development Plan. The handbook also provides guidance on how to measure specific indicators for a variety of programming types, including when results can be plausibly attributed to USAID activities. The indicators and monitoring guidance in this handbook provide a basis for demonstrating how activities can be linked to the achievement of water and sanitation objectives.