Glossary of Development Terms and Abbreviations

NB: Some of these terms are specific to DFID, others are used throughout the development community.

CAs - Crown Agents for Overseas Governments and Administrations

CAB - Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux

CABI - Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International

CAF - Charities Aid Foundation CAFOD Catholic Fund for Overseas Development

CAP - Common Agricultural Policy 

Capacity-building - a generic term relating to interventions designed to develop the ability of organisations to plan and deploy resources in order to achieve their changing objectives more effectively and efficiently.

CaPAS - Contract and Procurement Advice Section, DFID India

Capital Expenditure/Investment - the purchase of fixed assets, such as buildings, equipment, land, vehicles, or similar items which involve a significant investment of resources over a long period of time.

Capital Grant - a grant to cover the costs of acquiring capital assets, e.g. land, buildings, equipment.

Capital Project - a project that involves the construction of fixed assets e.g. buildings and equipment.

CARs - Central Asian Republics

CARICOM - Caribbean Community and Common Market

Cash Flow - the flow of monetary payments to or from the organisation implementing the project.

Cash (current) Prices - are figures which are not adjusted for inflation.

CATIE - Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Centre

CBD - Convention on Biological Diversity

CBEVE - Central Bureau for Educational Visits and Exchanges

CBO - Community Based Organisation

CCAD - Comision Centro Americana de Ambiente y Desarrollo

CCD - Convention to Combat Desertification

CDA - Community Development Association

CDB - Caribbean Development Bank

CDC - Commonwealth Development Corporation

CDF - Caribbean Development Fund

CDF - Comprehensive Development Framework (World Bank Initiative) 

CDI - Commonwealth Debt Initiative 

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

CERN - European Organisation for Nuclear Research

CFC - Common Fund for Commodities

CFTC - Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation

CGAP - Consultative Group on Aid for the Poorest

CGFPI - Consultative Group on Food Production and Investment in Developing Countries

CGIAR - Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research

CHAD - Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance Department

Checklist - a list of key factors that can serve as an aide memoire to project development.

Chevening Scholarships- see British Chevening Scholarships.

CHI - Center for Health Information CHOGM Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

CIAT - International Centre of Tropical Agriculture

CICHE - Committee for International Co-operation in Higher Education

CIDA - Canadian International Development Agency

CIFOR - Centre for International Forestry Research

CILSS - Comite Inter-etats de lutte contre la secheresse dans le Sahel

CIMMYT - International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre

CIP - International Potato Centre

CITES - Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (of Wild Fauna and Flora)

CITU - Central Information Technology Unit

Civil Society Organisations - in DFID this grouping would include Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and others such as Trade Unions, (see NGOs for further info).

CLAS - Commonwealth Legal Advisory Service

CMDF - Commonwealth Media Development Fund

Co-financing - where an international bank attracts a second lender to finance part of a loan. Co-financing spreads the risks to the bank and obtains a second opinion as to whether the project is bankable and interesting. It is also referred to as third party financing as the borrower is often also a contributor.

COLA - Cost of Living Allowance 

COMESA - Common Market for East and Southern Africa

Commission - common term for a piece of work to be undertaken by consultants (see also: Brief; Terms of Reference).

Commitment - Arrangement for financial aid or technical co-operation incorporated in a signed agreement specifying terms and conditions.

Commodity Assistance - Aid provided in the form of free or deferred-payment supplies of specified commodities - for example, American deliveries of rice, wheat or cotton under US Public Law 480 programme. Money raised in local currency by sale of these commodities and retained by the receiving country is known as a counterpart fund.

Compensatory Financing Facility - This facility of the International Monetary fund provides compensatory cover to overcome a temporary shortfall in export receipts which has arisen due to circumstances largely beyond a country's control. It can also be used to cover temporary excesses in cereal imports, again largely the result of factors beyond a country's control - for example, drought and hurricane damage.

Comptroller and Auditor General - the Head of the National Audit Office, as auditor his statutory duties are to certify the accounts of all government departments and a wide range of other public bodies, examine revenue and store accounts. He has wide powers to carry out examinations of the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the bodies he audits and reports to Parliament. (See also National Audit Office).

Competitive Tender - where several organisations are invited to bid to complete a particular project or service on the basis of quality and price.

Concessional Finance Arrangement (CFA) - A Government to Government agreement through which the DFID makes available financial support through the ATP programme, under mixed credit arrangements, to the recipient government for developmentally sound projects.

Concessional Loan Arrangement (CLA) - A Government to Government agreement whereby the United Kingdom makes available financial support through the ATP programme, under soft loan terms, to the recipient government for developmentally sound projects.

Concessional Funding - funding obtained at below market rates; another term for soft loans and other subsidies.

Concessionality - The degree to which the terms of a loan result in a smaller return to the lender than the normal return from the commercial investment of the funds.

Conditionality - The obligations accepted in relation to developing countries' policies or institutions as part of an aid transaction. (See also Undertakings).

Conflict Handling - Umbrella term referring to activities explicitly designed to contribute to the prevention, resolution or reduction of violent conflict and the reconciliation of groups within divided communities.

Conflict Prevention/Resolution/Reduction Programmes - These are interventions designed to create either (a) the will, or (b) the capacity, of state and civil society to create an environment in which different interests can be resolved non-violently.

Consolidated Fund - the government's 'current account' kept by the Treasury at the Bank of England, through which pass most government payments and receipts.

Consolidated Fund Extra Receipts - receipts realised or recovered by departments in the process of conducting services charged on the public which are not authorised to be credited to Appropriations in Aid of expenditure. Examples include excess appropriations in aid.

Consortium - a group of donor Countries concerned to co-ordinate their aid to a particular recipient country. A consortium differs from a Consultative Group in that members are expected to make periodic pledges of aid.

Constant (or Real Term) Prices - show how expenditure has changed over time after removing the effects of UK inflation. The measure of general inflation used in the calculations for DFID's British Aid Statistics is the UK GDP deflator, which is derived by dividing GDP at current prices by GDP at constant prices.

Constraints - limitations, restrictions; limiting factors that should be taken into account when identifying and preparing a project proposal e.g. lack of available materials, skills, funds.

Consultants - Companies or self employed people providing professional advice for a fee.

Consultative Group - Similar to a consortium save that it is strictly consultative and members are not expected to make pledges of specific aid - although they may do so. Groups have been set up under the auspices of the World Bank for most of the major aid recipient countries. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) is an informal association of public and private members which aims to contribute, through its research, to promoting sustainable agriculture for food security in developing countries.

Contingencies - an allowance in the project budget which will cover the cost of any reasonable unforeseen circumstances.

Contingency Reserve - a centrally held sum of money used to meet unforeseen needs during the financial year.

Contingent Liabilities - are potential calls on Government resources 'contingent' on particular events happening in the future. Contingent Liabilities can include guarantees, indemnities and letters of credit and must be reported to Treasury.

Contingent Valuation - is a survey technique used to find out how much people value things for which market prices are absent or distorted. Respondents are asked how much they would be willing to pay (or how much compensation they would be willing to accept) for a hypothetical change in the world. Their responses are contingent (dependent) on such factors as the description of the good or service, who else it would be offered to, and how it would be paid for. It is the only way to investigate 'option' or 'existence' values of environmental assets. In developing countries a promising use of CV is in helping plan water and sanitation improvements.

Contract - a legally binding agreement.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) bans international trade in endangered species or regulates such trade to combat over exploitation.

Corps of Specialists - is a body of people wholly financed from DFID funds, in anticipation of demand they provide a standing capacity to readily fill vacancies where a long term demand is perceived. Numbers within the Corps are small, they concentrate on Natural Resources, Health and Population, Financial Management and Administration but may change to meet demand.

COSHH - Control of Substances Hazardous to Health

Costs - the cost/price of implementing a piece of work/project. Accrued cost/expenditure is generally interpreted to mean the work done to date or to the end of a previous financial year. Actual cost/expenditure is the invoiced total at the present time.

Cost-Benefit Analysis - a decision tool that assesses projects through a comparison between their costs and benefits, including social costs and benefits. Cost-benefit analysis is a form of economic appraisal. The techniques adopted include those used in financial appraisal but in addition a valuation in money terms is placed on social costs and benefits.

Generally cost-benefit analyses are comparative, i.e. they are used to compare alternative proposals.

Cost-benefit analysis compares the costs and benefits of the situation with and without the project; the costs and benefits are considered over the life of the project.

No costs or benefits should be recorded more than once.

(see also: Benefit-Cost Ratio; Internal Rate of Return; Net Present Value; Discounted Cash Flow).

Cost-Effectiveness - The relation between the costs (inputs) and impact of and impact of a project. A project is most cost-effective when it achieves its objectives (Impacts) at the lowest possible cost compared with alternative projects with the same objective.

Cost-Efficiency - The relation between the costs (inputs) and Outputs of a project. A project is most cost-efficient when it achieves its outputs at the lowest possible cost compared either with alternative methods of delivery, or alternative outputs achieving the same objective.

A project may be 'cost-efficient' (i.e. least-cost per unit output) but this does not necessarily mean that it is the most cost-effective. For example, while it might be more efficient to undertake all the training at one time and in one place, it might be more effective (in terms of achieving the objectives) to stagger the training inputs.

Counterpart funds - These are normally referred to in DFID as the amounts of local currency which become available to the recipient government as a result of either the sale of aid goods on the domestic market or the on-lending of aid funds to local private or public institutions at normal domestic/commercial terms. The phrase can also be used to describe the project partners' contribution to the project.

Country Strategies - an assessment of objectives and priorities for a country drawn up by an IFI (and within DFID) and used to steer its investment.

Covenants - requirements placed on a borrower to achieve and maintain specified targets such as levels of cash flow and/or balance sheet ratios and/or specified capital expenditure levels in order to retain financing facilities.

CPSS - Committee on Payment & Settlement Systems

Credit - use or possession of goods and services without immediate payment.

Crisis Management - responding to unforeseen circumstances with no time to plan ahead.

Critical-Path Analysis - a method of structuring the parts of a project. It involves setting out, in advance of the commencement of the project, the pattern of work showing how much time is required for each task and the sequence in which tasks will take place.

CSC - Commonwealth Scholarship Commission of the UK

CSC - Commonwealth Science Council

CSD - Commission on Sustainable Development

CSFP - Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan

CSO - Civil Society Organisations

CSP - Country Strategy Paper 

CSPIP - Civil Service Performance Improvement Programme (Ghana) 

CTVM - Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Edinburgh

Current (cash) prices - are figures which are not adjusted for inflation.

CWDE - Centre for World Development Education

CWIQ - Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire CYEP Commonwealth Youth Exchange Programme

CYP - Commonwealth Youth Programme

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