- AI GovernanceThe policies, controls, roles and oversight arrangements an institution uses to make sure AI systems are designed, bough...
- Algorithmic Impact Assessment (AIA)A structured review, carried out before an automated system is deployed, of its likely effects on privacy, fairness, sec...
- Baseline, Midline and EndlineMeasurements taken at the start, middle and end of a programme using the same indicators and methods, so change can be t...
- Board GovernanceThe structures, duties and practices through which a board directs and oversees an organisation, including strategy, ris...
- Circular EconomyAn economic model that keeps materials in use for as long as possible through reuse, repair and recycling, and designs w...
- Climate-Resilient AgricultureFarming practices and systems that maintain or raise productivity under climate stress, such as drought-tolerant varieti...
- Continuing Professional Development (CPD)Structured learning that professionals undertake after qualifying to maintain and extend their competence, often recorde...
- Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA)A method that values a project's costs and benefits in monetary terms over time and compares them, often as a net presen...
- Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA)A method that compares the cost of different options for achieving the same outcome, such as cost per life saved or per ...
- CounterfactualWhat would have happened to the same people or places without the programme. Impact is the difference between observed o...
- Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA)An assessment, required by most modern data protection laws for high-risk processing, that identifies and reduces the ri...
- Data TriangulationChecking a finding against two or more independent sources or methods, such as administrative records, field observation...
- Devolution EconomicsThe economic analysis of how powers, functions and resources transferred to subnational governments affect service deliv...
- Difference-in-Differences (DiD)An evaluation design that compares the change in an outcome over time for a group that received a programme with the cha...
- Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)An organisation-wide approach to identifying, assessing, owning and responding to the risks that could stop it achieving...
- Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)A framework for assessing how an organisation manages environmental impact, social responsibility and the quality of its...
- Explainable AI (XAI)Methods and design choices that make the outputs of an AI model understandable to the people who use, oversee or are aff...
- Fiscal DecentralisationThe transfer of revenue-raising powers and spending responsibilities from central to subnational governments.
- IndicatorA specific, observable measure used to track progress toward a result. Good indicators are specific, measurable, achieva...
- Institutional MemoryThe accumulated knowledge, decisions, reasons and relationships an institution holds, in records and in the heads of its...
- Knowledge Management System (KMS)A platform and set of practices for capturing, organising, searching and sharing an institution's documents, procedures ...
- Logical Framework (Logframe)A matrix that summarises a project's goal, purpose, outputs and activities, with indicators, means of verification and a...
- Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF)A rolling multi-year framework, usually three years, that links policy priorities to projected revenue and expenditure c...
- Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)Monitoring is the routine tracking of a programme's activities and results. Evaluation is the periodic, systematic asses...
- Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL)An extension of M&E that adds accountability to the people a programme serves and systematic learning from evidence.
- Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)A country's climate action plan under the Paris Agreement, setting out its targets for reducing emissions and adapting t...
- Natural Capital AccountingMeasuring the stocks of natural assets, such as forests, water and soils, and the flows of services they provide, in a f...
- Out-of-Pocket ExpenditurePayments households make directly for health services at the point of use, not covered by insurance or public financing.
- Own-Source Revenue (OSR)Revenue a subnational government collects itself, such as property rates, business permits, market and parking fees, as ...
- Political Economy Analysis (PEA)Analysis of the interests, incentives, institutions and power relations that shape how policy is made and whether reform...
- Programme-Based Budgeting (PBB)A budgeting approach that allocates funds to programmes with defined objectives and performance indicators, rather than ...
- Propensity Score Matching (PSM)A statistical technique that builds a comparison group by matching each participant with non-participants who had a simi...
- Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS)A survey that follows public funds from the point of allocation to the frontline facility or school, measuring how much ...
- Public Financial Management (PFM)The laws, systems and practices by which governments raise, plan, budget, spend, account for and audit public money.
- Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT)An evaluation in which participants are randomly assigned to receive a programme or not, so any difference in outcomes c...
- Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD)An evaluation design that estimates impact by comparing people just above and just below an eligibility cut-off, such as...
- Remote Sensing and GISRemote sensing gathers information about places from satellite or aerial imagery. Geographic information systems (GIS) s...
- Results FrameworkA structured set of a programme's intended results, from outputs to outcomes and impact, with indicators, baselines, tar...
- Safely Managed Drinking WaterThe highest service level in the WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme ladder: water from an improved source that is...
- Stakeholder MappingIdentifying the people and organisations affected by or able to influence a decision, and assessing their interest, infl...
- Theory of Change (ToC)An explicit account of how and why a programme's activities are expected to lead to its intended outcomes, including the...
- Third-Party VerificationIndependent confirmation, by an organisation not involved in implementation, that reported results are accurate, usually...
- Value for Money (VfM)The optimal use of resources to achieve intended outcomes, commonly assessed on economy, efficiency, effectiveness and e...
- WASH IndicatorsMeasures of access to and quality of water, sanitation and hygiene services, such as use of safely managed drinking wate...