Glossary of Development Terms and Abbreviations

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

FAO - Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations

FATF - Financial Action Task Force ( the world's leading anti-money laundering authority)

FCCC - Framework Convention on Climate Change

FCO - Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Feasibility Study - an investigation aimed at clearly establishing the opportunity or need for further work.

A study carried out on the basis of terms of reference drawn up at the identification or pre-feasibility stage. If the conclusion is favourable, the funding proposal will be drawn up without the need for further studies.

FED - European Development Fund (Fonds Europeens de Developpement)

Financial Action Task Force - based at the OECD and comprising all OECD member countries and the EC and Gulf Co-operation Council this is the world's leading anti-money laundering authority.

Financial aid - In DFID this comprises all financial flows (bilateral or multilateral), other than the cost of technical co-operation and administrative costs.

Financial Analysis - deals with the cost and benefit flows from the point of view of a firm or individual; it traces the investment's monetary effects. Financial analysis is carried out to: assess the financial effects of the project; determine efficiency of resource use; assess incentives; provide investment plan and debt repayment capacities; assess whether the investment resources are available at the required time; assess any changes needed in organisation and management. Financial analysis is used for project screening and selection (see also: Economic Analysis).

Financial Appraisal - the comparison of cash flow costs and benefits for different options over the same time period. It should include a consideration of intangibles. Costs will include both revenue and capital, initial capital costs, cost of replacing assets, operating costs including staffing. Benefits will include income generated and savings in costs. Appraisal is usually carried out on the basis of a fixed cost date, i.e. the price at a fixed date, excluding the effects of inflation.

Financial Instruments - a term used to denote any form of financing medium - mostly those used for borrowing in the money market e.g. bills of exchange, bonds.

Financial Intermediaries - where an IFI uses local financial organisations to manage/monitor its investments.

Financial Plan - a document setting out the objectives of a project, the inputs and outputs required to achieve these, and the forecast expenditure and income over the project life. The term 'business plan' is often substituted.

Financing Mechanism - the source of funding or the way in which the money is made available. The most common mechanisms are: taxation, revenue (e.g. from pollution fines), debt for nature/environment swaps, credit lines, and savings in a bank account.

FINNIDA - Finnish Government's Aid Agency

FINSTATS Exercise - within DFID, a system of gathering Financial Statistics with all departments providing regular reports to APRD estimates of expenditure against allocations.

Focus Group - semi-structured small group discussions about a specific issue or projects.

Discussions are normally run according to well established methodologies by skilled facilitators.

Food Aid - Britain provides Food Aid in accordance with obligations accepted by the EC under the Food Aid Convention 1986.A proportion is provided under the EC Food Aid programme and attributed to member states. The balance is shared bilaterally by member states.

Foreign Affairs Committee - this Committee used to oversee ODA work when it was part of the FCO. For DFID that role is taken by the Select Committee on International Development. The FAC is one of a number of select committees of the House of Commons set up from 1979 to enquire into and report on the expenditure, administration and policy of the government department to which each is linked. Written and oral evidence is taken. Enquiries may also involve the Committee in visits overseas. Most enquiries lead to formal reports by the committee which may, in turn, be the subject of debate in Parliament. The FCO/DFID is also usually required to publish a Reply to the Report, customarily in the form of a White Paper.

Forms of Aid - the main forms of aid are project aid (which can comprise financial aid, and /or technical co-operation or ATP), programme aid, debt relief and emergency aid.

Framework - a broad overview, outline or skeleton, within which details can be added e.g. a strategic framework for national environmental policy setting the context for individual programmes and projects.

FSC - Forest Stewardship Council

FSDC - Forest Sector Development Co-operation

FSU - Former Soviet Union

Funder - the organisation contributing all or part of the project's cost. The funder might be your own organisation and/or any combination of domestic or foreign source. The funding might be in any form e.g. grant, loan.

FTA - Free Trade Area 

FTAA - Free Trade for All Americas

FY - Financial Year

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