U.S. Department of State

2008 Performance Summary

Each year, the Department of State plans and organizes its foreign policy resources and efforts based on an annual assessment of progress towards achieving seven strategic goals. In order to measure the Department’s progress in FY 2008, an interagency working group selected 88 performance indicators that best reflect U.S. Government foreign policy priorities and major areas of investment. The working group and others examined each indicator closely to determine whether the FY 2008 result met a previously determined target and how the results impact the achievement of the Department’s goals. The indicators are a mix of annual measures directly attributable to U.S. Government activities and longer-term indicators that reflect the combined investments of donors, private-public partnerships, non-government organizations, and host governments. The annual measures used in this report contribute toward achieving the longer-term goals.

Summary of Indicator Ratings for FY 2008¹

Rating	Number of Indicators	Percentage of Indicators
Above target	23	26%
On target	31	36%
Improved over prior year, but target not met	14	16%
Below target	10	11%
Data not yet available	10	11%
Total	88	100%
1 Program results for several indicators are achieved jointly by USAID and the Department of State. These joint indicators are noted in the FY 2008 Annual Performance Report available at http://www.state.gov/s/d/rm/rls/perfrpt/2008apr/. (back to text)

The chart above summarizes the ratings of the Department’s 88 performance indicators. Eighteen illustrative indicators are highlighted in the following section, which is organized by strategic goal and accompanied by an explanation of each goal and analysis of results achieved in 2008. Each featured indicator explains steps to improve if the 2008 result is below target or the reasons for exceeding target if the indicator is significantly above target. For 10 of these indicators, results are not yet available at this time. Results data for those indicators are collected on a calendar year basis or from overseas and outside sources and are not available until later in 2009. Those results will be updated in performance reporting as they become available. The entire set of 88 performance indicators and their 2008 results are published in full in the Department’s FY 2008 Annual Performance Report (http://www.state.gov/s/d/rm/rls/perfrpt/2008apr/).

2008 Budget Summary

The Department of State incorporates performance information in the allocation and use of budget resources. The chart below shows how the Department’s resources are allocated for each Strategic Goal.

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