What is a Program Charter?
The program charter authorizes the program: its vision, intended benefits, scope at program level, key components, funding, and the program manager's authority. Like a project charter but aimed at outcomes — it justifies the program by the benefits in the business case, not by a list of deliverables.
It's the reference document governance uses at every review: is the program still on course to deliver the benefits this charter promised?
Worked example
A health ministry's charter for a national e-health program names the benefits (30% shorter referral times, unified patient records by 2028), the initial components (records platform, hospital integrations, clinician training), a €120M envelope, and the program director's authority to start, stop, and re-scope component projects. Every later gate review reads against that page.