EVALUATION
The systematic and objective assessment of an on-going or completed project, programme or policy, its design, implementation and results. The aim is to determine the relevance and fulfillment of objectives, development efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability. An evaluation should provide information that is credible and useful, enabling the incorporation of lessons learned into the decision–making process of both recipients and donors.
Evaluation also refers to the process of determining the worth or significance of an activity, policy or program. An assessment, as systematic and objective as possible, of a planned, on-going, or completed development intervention.
Note: Evaluation in some instances involves the definition of appropriate standards, the examination of performance against those standards, an assessment of actual and expected results and the identification
of relevant lessons.
See also the Glossary of Key Terms in Evaluation and Results Based Management .
GRANT ELEMENT
Reflects the financial terms of a commitment: interest rate, MATURITY (q.v.) and grace period (interval to first repayment of capital). It measures the concessionality of a loan, in the form of the present value of an interest rate below the market rate over the life of a loan. Conventionally the market rate is taken as 10 per cent in DAC statistics. Thus, the GRANT ELEMENT is nil for a loan carrying an interest rate of 10 percent; it is 100 per cent for a grant; and it lies between these two limits for a soft loan. 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 lending operations of the multilateral development banks.) The extent of concessionality can be measured either as the benefit to the borrower, or the opportunity cost to the lender. Both benefit and opportunity cost depend on the interest rate and duration of the loan. In a benefit calculation, concessionality would be calculated from the difference between the interest charged and the market rate of interest which the borrower would otherwise have had to pay. In an opportunity cost calculation, the concessionality would be calculated from the difference between the interest charged and the return that the lender could have expected from the next most profitable means of investing the capital. DAC statistics generally measure costs to donors, and consideration of opportunity costs played an important part in determining a reference rate of interest for calculating grant elements. For practical purposes this was set as 10%. See Annex 1 of the CRS Reporting Directives for the formula and examples, see also grant element calculator .
OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE (ODA)
Grants or Loans to countries and territories on Part I of the DAC List of Aid Recipients (developing countries) which are: (a) undertaken by the official sector; (b) with promotion of economic development and welfare as the main objective; (c) at concessional financial terms [if a loan, having a Grant Element (q.v.) of at least 25 per cent].
In addition to financial flows, Technical Co-operation (q.v.) is included in aid. Grants, Loans and credits for military purposes are excluded. For the treatment of the forgiveness of Loans originally extended for military purposes, see Notes on Definitions and Measurement below. Transfer payments to private individuals (e.g. pensions, reparations or insurance payouts) are in general not counted.
TIED AID CREDITS
Official or officially supported Loans, credits or Associated Financing packages (qq.v.) 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 developmental relevance so as to avoid using aid funds on projects that would be commercially viable with private finance, and to ensure that recipient countries receive good value.
TOTAL RECEIPTS
The inflow of resources to aid recipient countries (see Table 1 of the Statistical Annex) includes, in addition to ODF, official and private EXPORT CREDITS (q.v.), and long and short term private transactions (see PRIVATE FLOWS). Total receipts are measured net of amortisation payments and repatriation of capital by private investors. Bilateral flows are provided directly by a donor country to an aid recipient country. Multilateral flows are channelled via an international organisation active in development (e.g. World Bank, UNDP). In tables showing total receipts of recipient countries, the outflows of multilateral agencies to those countries is shown, not the contributions which the agencies received from donors.
