Toolkit Glossary

Activities
The specific tasks within a project or programme which produce the planned outputs. Conduct of surveys, training and preparation of manuals are examples of activities.

Common elements (of projects)
Regularly used sections of project documents such as terms of reference, government contributions, contractual and reporting arrangements.

Dietary energy supply
Food available for human consumption, expressed in kilocalories (kcal/person/day). At country level, it is calculated as the food remaining for human use after deduction of all non-food consumption (exports, animal feed, industrial use, seed and wastage).

Evaluation
An objective (often independent), analytical tool to support project/programme managers at various levels by providing them with: (i) in-depth assessment of its continuing relevance, efficiency in implementing activities and producing outputs, and effectiveness in achieving objectives (effects and impact); and (ii) recommendations based on concrete analysis, providing feasible solutions and options for future decisions.

Food insecurity
A situation that exists when people lack secure access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life. It may be caused by the unavailability of food, insufficient purchasing power, inappropriate distribution, or inadequate use of food at the household level. Food insecurity may be chronic, seasonal or transitory.

Food security
A situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

Gender
Refers not to women or men per se, but to the relations between them. It is a central organizing principle of societies and often governs the process of production and reproduction, consumption and distribution.

Goals/Objectives
The immediate objectives are what the technical cooperation is trying to achieve for the beneficiaries as a result of using the outputs; goals or development objectives refer to the longer-range objectives.

Indicators
Verifiable events of phenomena that can be used to measure the progress and achievement at critical stages of the project/programme implementation, especially for production of outputs and achievement of effects and impact.

Inputs
These are the services, goods, human and other resources which are required to carry out activities with the intent of producing the planned outputs and achieving the project/programme objectives. It should be noted that inputs, like activities and outputs, are based on the assumptions regarding certain inter-relationships between these variables.

Logical Framework Matrix
The logical framework or "logframe" is a matrix that summarizes the main elements in project and programme design. Logical Framework Analysis provides one tool, among others, to assist in setting out the logic of the project intervention model in a structured and coherent manner. In so doing, it facilitates specification of project objectives and the assumptions, upon which causal linkages between various levels of objectives are premised.

Malnutrition
An abnormal, physiological, condition caused by deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in energy, protein and/or nutrients.

Micronutrients
The vitamins, minerals and certain other substances that are required by the body in small amounts. They are measured in milligrams or micrograms.

Normative frameworks
In the Toolkit, these are outlines of conceptual and technical criteria for formulating technical cooperation projects according to the specified funding guidelines. They describe the main elements of a project, including: background, justification, objectives, activities, inputs, outputs, work plan, budget, reports and appropriate annexes.

Outputs
They are the first level of results, products or rendered services that are expected to result from activities in order to realize objectives (examples of outputs often include staff trained, survey results, advisory reports).

Projects
The first level of activities to achieve specific objectives, to be completed in a given time frame and resources. Projects are usually formulated with a design, which defines a coherent set of expected results, activities, target groups and institutional/management arrangements, all to achieve the immediate objectives with the resources and timeframe given.

Project design
Has a role to play not only in guiding and sustaining the project through implementation and follow up but also in setting it adequately within its national context. Main weaknesses in project design include the link between output and objectives, realism in the implementation plan, identification of counterpart inputs, institutional framework and identification of important assumptions and risks underlying overall project success.

Project examples
In the Toolkit, these refer to selected well-structured, technically sound, "best practice" examples of implemented projects.

Stakeholders
Stakeholders can be individuals or groups of people. They can include landless workers, subsistence farmers, commercial farmers, landholders and landowners, government staff, institutional staff and members or civil society organizations.

Sustainability
Concerns one of the most fundamental questions for technical cooperation: will the benefits and results achieved through the project/programme be maintained and enhanced by the beneficiaries and their community after the termination of the external assistance?

Undernourishment
Food intake that is insufficient to meet dietary energy requirements continuously.

Undernutrition
The result of undernourishment, poor absorption and/or poor biological use of nutrients consumed.

Vulnerability
The presence of factors that place people at risk of becoming food insecure or malnourished, including those factors that affect their ability to cope.

Vulnerable group
A group of people with common characteristics, a high proportion of whom are food-insecure or at risk of becoming food-insecure.