Activities are specific interventions to be undertaken during a project cycle in order to achieve results, to improve the immediate wellbeing of the project participants such as improved knowledge, skill, attitude etc. They are expressed in present tense. Activities describe the interventions to be undertaken. In our examples activities are (1) Training on IT Outsourcing (2) Training on homemade products (3) Formation of women group etc.
How the work will help address a significant development challenge
Here you have to briefly explain how your project will help to address a significant development challenge in your country or region. In both of example 1 and 2, the projects will help to contribute to women empowerment by linking them with livelihood opportunity and also contribute to expand export sector. In example 2, it will also address poor reproductive health status of women.
How the work will help accomplish a field Mission or B/IO’s specific strategic objectives
In this section, you have to establish a link between your work and USAID Mission strategic objectives. It very important that your project is highly aligned with USAID strategic objective, otherwise they won’t be interested in your project. Our two examples are highly aligned with USAID Bangladesh Mission’s strategic objective “Expanded economic opportunities created through equitable economic growth” and the second one is also highly aligned with “A healthier, better educated and more productive population”. Not just say that your project is aligned with some USAID objective, you also have to tell how. Suppose, Expanded economic opportunities created through equitable economic growth” have four programmatic areas (1) Increase in Private Sector Growth (2) Improve Quality of Workforce (3) Expand and Improve Access to Economic and Social Infrastructure (4) Improve Economic Policy and Governance. In our project example 2, we can address the first three of the programmatic areas. Programmatic area one concentrates on value chains that offer the greatest potential for expansion, broad-based participation and economic impact. Importance is given to micro, small and medium enterprises. Our example 2 is based on value chain development of micro level women entrepreneurs. It provides them training, seed money to start business and facilitate market linkage. In this way establish a link with as many USAID objectives as you can. Please don’t forget to consult USAID country Strategic Statement. You can see Bangladesh Strategic Statement here.
