ABOS Algemeen Bestuur voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking, Belgian Ministry for Development Cooperation

ACP African, Caribbean and Pacific States (see Lome Convention).

ADB Asian Development Bank

ADEA Association for the Development of Education in Africa (formerly DAE Donors to African Education)

AECI Spanish Agency for International Cooperation

AfDB African Development Bank

Afsed Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development

Aid - see ODA Official Development Assistance

AIDs Acquired immune deficiency syndrome

ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations

ASIP Agricultural Sector Investment Programme

Associated Financing is the combination of Offical Development Assistance, whether grants or loans, with any other funding to form finance packages. Associated Financing packages are subject to the same criteria of concessionality, developmental relevance and recipient country eligibility as TIED AID CREDITS.

ATP Aid and Trade Provision

Badea Arab Bank for Development in Africa

Bilateral Aid is provided to developing countries and countries on Part II of the DAC List on a country to country basis, and to institutions, normally in Britain, working in fields related to these countries.

Bilateral portfolio investment - includes bank lending, and the purchase of shares, bonds and real estate.

Bond Lending - net completed international bonds issued by countries on the DAC List of Aid Recipients.

Bop Balance of payments

BSS Basic Social Services (Basic Education, basic health and nutrition, safe water and sanitation) defined for the purposes of the 20/20 Initiative

Budgetary Aid is general financial assistance given in certain cases to dependent territories to cover a recurrent budget deficit.

CAP The Consolidated Appeal Process - (UNOCHA)

CAP Common Agricultural Policy (EU)

CDF Comprehensive Development Framework used by The World Bank

CEC Commission of the European Community

CEE/CA Countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia

CILC Confirmed Irrevocable Letter of Credit

CIS Commonwealth of Independent States

Commitment - a firm obligation, expressed in writing and backed by the necessary funds, undertaken by an official donor to provide specified assistance to a recipient country or a multilateral organisation. Bilateral commitments are recorded in the full amount of expected transfer, irrespective of the time required for the completion of disbursements. Commitments to multilateral organisations are reported as the sum of [i] any disbursements in the year in question which have not previously been notified as commitments and [ii] expected disbursements in the following year.

Concessionality Level - a measure of the 'softness' of a credit reflecting the benefit to the borrower compared to a loan at market rate (cf GRANT ELEMENT). Technically, it is calculated as the difference between the nominal value of a TIED AID CREDIT and the present value of the debt service as of the date of disbursement, calculated at a discount rate applicable to the currency of the transaction and expressed as a percentage of the nominal value.

Constant Prices Constant price (or real terms) figures show how expenditure on DFID programmes has changed over time after removing the effects of UK inflation. The measure of general inflation used is the UK GDP deflator, which is derived by dividing GDP at current prices by GDP at constant prices.

Current (cash) prices are not adjusted for inflation.

DAC Development Assistance Committee - the DAC of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a forum for consultation among 21 donor countries, together with the European Commission, on how to increase the level and effectiveness of aid flows to all aid recipient countries. The member countries are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA. DAC sets the definitions and criteria for aid statistics internationally.

Debt Relief may take the form of cancellation, rescheduling, refinancing or re-organisation. Interest and principal foregone from debt cancellation forms part of DFID programme expenditure whilst other debt relief is funded from other official sources.

a. Debt cancellation is relief from the burden of repaying both the principal and interest on past loans. Most of the poorest countries have had outstanding debt arising from past aid loans cancelled.

b. Debt rescheduling is a form of relief by which the dates on which principal or interest payments are due are delayed or re-arranged.

c. Debt refinancing is a form of relief in which a new loan or grant is arranged to enable the debtor country to meet the service payments on an earlier loan.

d. Official bilateral debts are re-organised in the Paris club of official bilateral creditors. The Paris Club has devised the following arrangements for reducing and rescheduling the debt of the poorest, most indebted countries.

Toronto Terms agreed by the Paris Club in 1988 provided up to 33% debt relief on rescheduled official bilateral debt owed by the poorest, most indebted countries pursuing internationally agreed economic reform programmes.

Trinidad Terms agreed by the Paris Club in 1990 superseded Toronto Terms and provided up to 50% debt relief.

Naples Terms agreed by the Paris Club in 1994 superseded Trinidad Terms and provide up to 67% debt relief. They also introduced the option of a one-off reduction of 67% in the stock of official bilateral debt owed by the poorest, most indebted countries with an established track record of economic reform and debt servicing.

In the Paris Club, the UK has forgiven and rescheduled official guaranteed export credits on Toronto, Trinidad and Naples terms.

Enhanced Naples Terms Under the Heavily-Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt initiative, Paris Club members have agreed to increase the amount of debt relief to eligible countries to up to 80%.

Developing Country The DAC defines a list of developing countries eligible to receive ODA. In 1996 a number of countries, including Israel, ceased to be eligible for ODA. A second group of countries, ‘Countries and Territories in Transition’ including Central and Eastern Europe are eligible for ‘Official Aid’ - not to be confused with ‘Official Development Assistance’. OA has the same terms and conditions as ODA, but it does not count towards the 0.7% target, because it is not going to developing countries

Developing Countries Developing countries are all countries and territories in Africa; in America (except the United States, Canada, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands and Falkland Islands); in Asia (except Japan, Brunei, Hong Kong, Israel, Kuwait, Qatar, Singapore, Taiwan and United Arab Emirates); in the Pacific (except Australia and New Zealand) and Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Gibraltar, Malta, Moldova, Turkey and the states of ex-Yugoslavia in Europe.

DFID Department for International Development (UK) (formerly UK Overseas Development Administration - ODA)

Direct Investment - investment made to acquire or add to a lasting interest in an enterprise in a country on the DAC List of Aid Recipients (see RECIPIENT COUNTRIES AND TERRITORIES). In practice, it is recorded as the change in the net worth of a subsidiary in a recipient country to the parent company as shown in the books of the latter.

Disbursement - the release of funds to, or the purchase of goods or services for a recipient; by extension, the amount thus spent. Disbursements record the actual international transfer of financial resources, or of goods or services valued at the cost to the donor. In the case of activities carried out in donor countries, such as training, administration or public awareness programmes, disbursement is taken to have occurred when the funds have been transferred to the service provider or the recipient. They may be recorded gross (the total amount disbursed over a given accounting period) or net (less any repayments of loan principal during the same period.

EBRD European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

EC European Community

ECGD Export Credits Guarantee Department (UK)

ECHO European Community Humanitarian Office

ECOSOC Economic and Social Council (UN)

EDF European Development Fund - see Lome Convention

EFA Education for All

EIB European Investment Bank

EMU Economic and Monetary Union

ESAF (E/Sal/F)Enhanced Structural Adjustment (Loan)/Facility

Export Credits - loans for the purpose of trade and which are not represented by a negotiable instrument. They may be extended by the official or the private sector. If extended by the private sector, they may be supported by official guarantees.

FAC Food d'Aide et Coopération

FAO Food and Agricultural Organisation (UN)

FCO Foreign & Commonwealth Office (UK)

FEWS Famine Early Warning System (US)

FINNIDA Finnish International Development Agency

G24 Group of 24 developed nations meeting to coordinate assistance to Central and Eastern Europe

GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

GDP Gross Domestic Product

GEA Global Environmental Assistance

GEF Global Environment Facility

Gini coefficient is an indicator of income distribution, where 0 represents perfect equality and 1 perfect inequality.

GNP Gross National Product - comprises the total value of goods and services produced within a country (ie its Gross Domestic Product [GDP]), together with income received from other countries (notably interest and dividends), less similar payments made to other countries.

GPEX Gross Public Expenditure on Aid

Grant element - reflects the financial terms of a commitment: interest rate, MATURITY and grace period (interval to first repayment of capital). It measures the concessionality of a loan, expressed as the percentage by which the present value of the expected stream of repayments falls short of the repayments that would have been generated at a given reference rate of interest. The reference rate is 10 per cent in DAC statistics. Thus, the grant element is nil for a loan carrying an interest rate of 10 per cent; it is 100 per cent for a grant; and it lies between these two limits for a loan at less than 10 percent interest. If the face value of a loan is multiplied by its grant element, the result is referred to as the grant equivalent of that loan (cf CONCESSIONALITY LEVEL) (Note: the grant element concept is not applied to the market-based non-concessional operations of the multilateral development banks.)

GSP General System of Preferences

HD Human Development

HEWS Humanitarian Early Warning System

HIC High Income Countries with an annual per capita income of more than US $ 9385 in 1995.

HIPC Highly Indebted Poor Country (Debt Initiative)

HIV Human immunodeficiency virus

IADB InterAmerican Development Bank

IASC Inter-Agency Standing Committee (Committee responsible to ECOSOC for overseeing humanitarian affairs, the work of OCHA and the CAP.

ICCROM International Centre for the Study of the preservation and the restoration of Cultural Property.

ICPD International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 1994.

IDA International Development Association (World Bank)

IDPs Internationally displaced persons

IDT International Development Targets (for 2015) as outlined in the DAC document Shaping the 21^st Century also known as International Development Goals

IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development

IFC International Finance Corporation

IFRC International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

IFIs International Financial Institutions

ILO International Labour Organisation

IMF International Monetary Fund

INSTRAW International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women

Internal Bank Lending - net lending to countries on the List of Aid Recipients by commercial banks in the Bank of International Settlements reporting area. ie most OECD countries and most offshore financial centres (Bahamas, Bahrain, Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, Netherlands Antilles and Singapore), net of lending to banks in the same offshore financial centres. Loans from central monetary authorities are excluded. Guaranteed bank loans and bonds are included under OTHER PRIVATE OR BOND LENDING.

IsDB Islamic Development Bank

JANIC Japanese NGO Centre for International Cooperation

JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency

Jomtien Venue for Education for All Conference, Thailand, 1990.

LIC Low Income Countries - with an annual per capita income of less than US $ 765 in 1995

LLDC Least Developed Country - 48 poor and vulnerable countries defined by the United Nations with an annual per capita income of less than US $ 765 in 1995

LMIC Lower Middle Income Countries, with an annual per capita income of between US $766 and US $3035 in 1995

Lome Convention  Multi annual framework agreement covering development cooperation between the EU members and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States. Funding for Lome comes from the EDF.

MADCT More Advanced Developing Countries and Territories comprise countries which have been transferred to Part II of the DAC List of Aid Recipients.

MAFF Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries (UK)

MAI Multilateral Agreement on Investment

MERCOSUR A regional arrangement for promoting trade and investment in the ‘Southern Cone’ countries of Latin America

MIS Management Information System

MoE Ministry of Education

MoF Ministry of Finance

MoH Ministry of Health

MoW Ministry of Works

Montreal Protocol The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (established in 1987) is a legally binding multilateral agreement to eliminate or reduce the use of chemicals which damage the ozone layer. It has been agreed by DAC members that 100% of contributions to the Montreal Protocol may be reported as ODA from 1994.

Multilateral Agencies - in DAC statistics, those international institutions with governmental membership which conduct all or a significant part of their activities in favour of development and aid recipient countries. They include multilateral development banks (eg The World Bank, regional development banks), United Nations agencies, and regional groupings (eg certain European Union and Arab agencies). A contribution by a DAC Member to such an agency is deemed to be multilateral if it is pooled with other contributions and disbursed at the discretion of the agency. Unless otherwise indicated, capital subscriptions to multilateral development banks are recorded on a deposit basis, ie in the amount and as at the date of lodgement of the relevant letter of credit or other negotiable instrument. Limited data are available on an encashment basis, ie at the date and in the amount of each drawing made by the agency on letters or other instruments.

Multilateral aid - Aid channelled through international bodies for use in or on behalf of aid recipient countries. For those international bodies whose activities benefit both developing and developed countries, only that part of the UK contribution estimated to be for development oriented activities in the former is reckoned as aid. The proportion reckoned as aid for each agency is agreed by the DAC. Aid channelled through multilateral agencies is regarded as bilateral where DFID controls the use and destination of the funds. This relates mainly to emergency aid delivered through UN agencies, including the World Food Programme.

Multilateral portfolio investment - this covers the transactions of the private non-bank and bank sector in the securities issued by multilateral institutions.

NAFTA North American Free Trade Arrangement

NATO North American Treaty Organisation

NGDO Non Governmental Development Organisation

NGO (PVO) Non-Governmental Organisations (Private Voluntary Organisations) also referred to as Voluntary Agencies. They are private non-profit-making bodies which are active in development work.

NIC Newly industrialised countries

NIPs National Indicative Programmes (EU)

NPV Net Present Value

NRI Natural Resources Institute (UK)

OA Official Assistance (Aid) - this is government assistance with the same terms and conditions as ODA, but which goes to Countries and Territories in Transition which include former aid recipients and Central and Eastern European Countries and the Newly Independent States. It does not count towards the 0.7% target.

OAU Organisation of African Unity

OCHA (See UNOCHA)

ODA Official Development Assistance (often referred to as ‘aid’) of which at least 25% must be a grant. The promotion of economic development or welfare must the main objective. It must go to a developing country as defined by the DAC

ODF Official Development Finance - used in measuring the inflow of resources to recipient countries; includes [a] bilateral ODA, [b] grants and concessional and non-concessional development lending by multilateral financial institutions, and [c] Other Official Flows which are considered developmental (including refinancing loans) which have too low a GRANT ELEMENT to qualify as ODA.

OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (see DAC).

OHCHR Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

OOF Other Official Flows - defined as flows to aid recipient countries by the official sector which do not satisfy both the criteria necessary for ODA or OFFICIAL ASSISTANCE.

Other private (lending) - mainly reported holdings of equities issued by aid recipient countries and bank loans which in this context are included with guaranteed export credits. In data which focus on the outflow of funds from donors, private flows other than direct investment are restricted to credit with a maturing of greater than one year and are usually divided into Private export credits (see EXPORT CREDITS), MULTILATERAL PORTFOLIO INVESTMENT AND BILATERAL PORTFOLIO INVESTMENT.

PAHO Pan American Health Organisation

PAM Poverty Aim Marker (used by DFID UK)

Partially Untied Aid - OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE (or Official Aid) for which the associated goods and services must be procured in the donor country or amount a restricted group of other countries, which must however include substantially all recipient countries. Partially untied aid is subject to the same disciplines as TIED AID and ASSOCIATED FINANCING.

PFP The Imo's Policy Framework Paper. A PFP has in the past outlined the Imo's approach to economic policy in borrowing countries, including additions attached to loans extended and an ESAF. (See also PRGF)

PHARE The Phase programme is the European Union's initiative which provides grant finance to support its partner countries (in Central and Eastern Europe) through the process of economic transformation and strengthening of democracy to the stage where they are ready to assume the obligations of membership of the European Union.

PIMS Policy Information Marker System (used by DFID UK)

POM Policy Objective Marker (used by DFID UK)

PRGF replacing the ESAF, the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility is the new name given to IMF Loan Facilities to developing countries. (See also PRSP).

Private Flows are long-term (over 1 year) capital transactions by UK residents (as defined for balance of payment purposes) with aid recipient countries, or through multilateral agencies for the benefit of such countries. They include all forms of investment, including INTERNATIONAL BANK LENDING and EXPORT CREDITS where the original maturity exceeds one year. Private flows are reported to DAC separately FOR DIRECT INVESTMENT, EXPORT CREDITS and INTERNATIONAL BANK LENDING, BOND LENDING AND OTHER PRIVATE (lending).

Programme Aid is financial assistance specifically to fund (I) a range of general imports, or (ii) an integrated programme of support for a particular sector, or (iii) discrete elements of a recipient's budgetary expenditure. In each case, support is provided as part of a World Bank/IMF co-ordinated structural adjustment programme.

PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers proposed by the IMF. These papers will replace PFPs, and aim to involve a much wider range of stakeholders in planning approaches to poverty and development.

Real Terms A figure adjusted to take account of exchange rates and inflation, allowing a ‘real’ comparison over time - see Constant Prices

Recipient Countries and Territories - the current DAC list of Aid Recipients - see LLDC, LIC, LMIC, UMIC, HIC.

S21C Shaping the 21^st Century – DAC donors statement of Development Goals - see IDTs.

SADC Southern African Development Community

SAR World Bank Staff Appraisal Report

SASP Structural Adjustment Support Programme

SBS Sector Budget Support

SDP Sectoral Development Programme

SDP-Ed Education Sector Development Programme

SIP Sectoral Investment Programme (SMG)

Soft Loan A loan of which the terms are more favourable to the borrower than those currently attached to commercial market terms. It is described as concessional and the degree of concessionality is expressed as its grant element.

SPA Special Programme of Assistance for Africa (World Bank)

SPS Sector Programme Support

SSA Sub-Saharan Africa

SWA (SWAp) Sector Wide Approaches

TC Technical Cooperation - includes both [a] grants to nationals of aid recipient countries receiving education or training at home or abroad, and [b] payments to consultants, advisers, and similar personnel as well as teachers and administrators serving in recipient countries (including the cost of associated equipment). Assistance of this kind provided specifically to facilitate the implementation of a capital project is included indistinguishably among bilateral project and programme expenditures, and is omitted from technical cooperation in statistics of aggregate flows.

Tied Aid Credits - Official or officially supported LOANS, credits or ASSOCIATED FINANCING packages where procurement of the goods or services involved is limited to the donor country or to a group of countries which does not include substantially all developing countries (or CEEC/NIS countries in transition, cf PARTIALLY UNTIED AID). Tied aid credits are subject to certain disciplines concerning their concessionality levels, the countries to which they may be directed, and their development relevance so as to avoid using aid funds on projects that would be commercially viable with market finance, and to ensure that recipient countries receive good value.

TNC Transnational Corporation

UMIC Upper Middle Income Countries with an annual per capita income of between US $ 3036 and US $9385 in 1995

UN United Nations

UNAIDS Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS

UNCED United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro 1992

UNCHS United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, Habitat

UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

UNDCF United Nations Capital Development Fund

UNDAC United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination

UNDAF United Nations Development Assistance Framework

UNDCP United Nations Drugs Control Programmes

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation

UNFPA United Nations Fund for Population Activities

UNHCR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund

UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organisation

UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women

UNITAR United Nations Institute for Training and Research

UNOCHA UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance

UNRISD United Nations Research Institute for Social Development

Untied Aid - OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE for which the associated goods and services may be fully and freely procured in substantially all countries.

UNV United Nations Volunteers

Uruguay Round Last round of multilateral trade negotiations under the GATT

VSO Voluntary Service Overseas (UK)

WFP World Food Programme

WHO World Health Organisation

WID Women in Development

WSSD World Summit for Social Development, Copenhagen 1995. - see 20/20 Initiative

Sources consulted include: Reality of Aid, annual Development Cooperation Report of the DAC