USAID Commodities Reference Guide - Annex I: Definitions

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Introduction
Home

Part One
Section I:
Commodities

Section II:
Food Commodity
Fact Sheets

Section III:
Storage/Shelflife
Specifications

Section IV:
Controlling
Damage to Food
Commodities

Part Two

An Overview

Module 1: Maternal and Child Health Programs
Module 2: Food for Work
Module 3: Food for Education
Module 4: Non-Emergency Humanitarian Assistance
Module 5: Emergency Programs

Part Three

Annex I: Definitions
Annex II: Tools and Indicators
Annex III: Recommended Energy Allowance Tables
Annex IV: Recommended Dietary Allowance Tables
Annex V: Sources for Obtaining Commodity Prices

Annex I:
DEFINITIONS

Updated January 2006

A. USAID TERMINOLOGY

Activity Manager: That member of the strategic objective or results package team designated by the team to manage a given activity or set of activities. Member of an SO Team or sub-team who is responsible for the day-to-day management of one or more specific activity(s). The Activity Manager is selected by the SO Team, and may or may not also have the delegated authorities of a Cognizant Technical Officer (CTO), whose authority to carry out contract management functions are delegated from a Contracting or Agreement Officer.

Agency Goal: A long-term development result in a specific area to which USAID programs contribute and which has been identified as a specific goal in the Agency Strategic Plan (ASP).

Agency Objective: A development result that contributes to the achievement of an Agency goal as defined in the ASP.. Agency objectives generally denote preferred approaches or areas of emphasis for programs that support specific goals. Agency Objectives provide a general framework for more detailed planning that occurs for specific country and regional programs.

Agricultural Commodity: Agricultural commodity is defined in the Farm Bill as any agricultural commodity or products thereof produced in the United States.

Annual Estimate of Requirements (AER): The food budget proposal submitted by a PVO to A.I.D. that indicates who will receive food, how much, and how often. It provides the foundation on which call forwards of commodities are based.

Automated Directives System (ADS): The ADS comprises USAID's official, written guidance to its employees on policies, operating procedures, and delegations of authority for conducting Agency business. The ADS replaces the old AID Handbook System. The ADS is intended to help Agency employees understand their responsibilities and achieve the Agency's development goals, consistent with applicable rules, sound policy, and management practices. http://www.usaid.gov/policy/ads/

Basic Foods: These constitute the main bulk of rations in emergency operations, and provide the majority of energy, protein, and fat required by recipients. These foods include staples (wheat, maize, sorghum, roots, tubers, etc.), vegetable oil, and protein-rich foods (e.g. pulses).

Bellmon Analysis and Determination: A Bellmon Analysis is required by US Federal law to determine that adequate storage facilities are available in the recipient country to prevent the spoilage or waste of commodity and importation of the commodity will not result in a substantial disincentive to or interference with domestic production or marketing in that country. The analysis also takes into account the Usual Marketing Requirement (UMR) of United States commercial commodities to ensure that there is no interference with this requirement. A Bellmon Determination is supported by a Bellmon Analysis, which is prepared prior to the initiation of any PL 480 programs. In countries where PL 480 commodities are already being programmed, the CS reviews the existing Bellmon analysis to determine whether the marketplace can absorb the additional commodities, and whether storage is adequate. In countries where no PL 480 program is operating, the CS must conduct its own Bellmon analysis, unless an analysis has been or is being carried out by USAID. The Bellmon Determination must be recertified each year. For multi-year development programs, the Bellmon analysis must be updated annually by the CSs.

Bills of Lading (B/L): Document used by exporters, importers and functional intermediaries to establish contract of carriage, receipt for the goods carried, and the transfer of legal title to the goods carried.

Blended Foods: PL 480 foods consisting of finely granulated precooked cereal flour, soy flour, and grains fortified with vitamins and minerals. These have shorter cooking time, easier digestibility, higher donor cost, and shorter shelflife.

Bulk commodities: Commodities that are not processed, fortified, or bagged. Whole wheat, corn, and beans are commodities that can be provided in bulk form.

Call Forward: A request initiated by the Field Office of a Cooperating Sponsor to AID for the delivery of a specified amount of food commodities to a particular country program for use over a specified period of time. A Call Forward can be made only after the DAP and AER have been approved. In response, USDA solicits bids, and arranges procurement and shipping. USDA notifies the PVO shipping department of the purchase order, the port of arrival and the estimated time of arrival.

Cargo Preference: Requirement that commodities supplied by the USG must be shipped on US-flag vessels, as established by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 (section 901b).

Certificate of Inspection: Document certifying the condition of goods at a particular point of transit.

Certificate of Origin: A certificate stating the country in which a commodity has been grown, milled, produced, manufactured or assembled.

Chronic Food Insecurity: A state of food insecurity that arises and endures as a result of long term, not easily changed conditions, such as access to land. (See also Transient Food Insecurity)

Chronic Food Insecurity Indicators: Measurement of chronic food insecurity, which reflects resources access and socio-economic constraints.

Chronic Vulnerability: Long-term conditions that predispose a particular group or region to food insecurity.

Clearing and Forwarding Agent: Licensed individual or firm who takes responsibility for passing documents to customs and port authorities, and often for moving the commodities out of port to warehouses.

Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC): Operating unit of the US Department of Agriculture, under the management of an Undersecretary for International Affairs and Commodity Programs, that manages export credits, surplus stocks and acquisition of commodities for PL 480 and Section 416(b) purposes.

Commodity Eligibility List: AID circular listing PL 480 commodities available to be called forward.

Cooperating Sponsor (CS): Any foreign government, U.S. registered voluntary agency, or intergovernmental organization, which enters into an agreement with the U.S. Government for the use of P.L. 480 Title II, agricultural commodities and/or funds, including local currencies.

Cost and Freight (C&F): A pricing term indicating that the cost of the goods and freight charges is included in the quoted price. The supplier must pay the costs and freight necessary to bring the goods to the named destination, but the risk of loss or damage to the goods, as well as of any cost increases, is transferred from the seller to the buyer when the goods pass the ship's rail in the port of shipment. The buyer must purchase shipping insurance against the risk of loss and damage.

Cost, Insurance and freight (CIF): The value of procuring, loading, shipping and covering risk on commodities to a foreign destination. The seller is obligated to cover the cost of the goods, the freight charges to the named port, the freight charges to the overseas destination, and the cost of insurance against loss.

Counterpart: An entity, indigenous to the country in which a Title II program is conducted, which is associated with and is sometimes sponsored by the cooperating sponsor in the implementation of an approved Title II program.

Demurrage: Excess time for loading or unloading a vessel, railroad car, truck, etc. beyond the time agreed upon, and the penalties and liabilities related by contract to such detention.

Development Activity Proposal (DAP): The document prepared by a CS and submitted to FFP requesting funding for the implementation of a Title II program in a particular country or region. A DAP may seek approval to implement the proposed program for up to five years.

Discharge Survey: A report prepared by an independent commercial firm based on a thorough examination of the cargo when it is discharged from the vessel at the destination port. Contains an accounting of the quantity discharged in sound and in damaged condition with details relating to the nature and extent of the damage, as well as the probable cause of damage.

Docket: The quarterly list of commodities available to cooperating sponsors from which to design, program and call forward categories of food. Also includes procurement prices per MT, indicating the relative efficiency of using any commodity and suggestive of the amount of the commodity that may be approved.

Dunnage: Materials placed adjacent to or beneath stacked goods to secure them in place or to allow for ventilation during transport or storage.

Duty Free: Exempt from all customs, excise, and other duties, tolls, taxes, or government impositions levied on the act of importation or the commodities imported.

Emergency: An urgent situation in which a population is in imminent danger of increased malnutrition and mortality as a result of food shortages. It is usually caused by an event that results in human suffering and dislocation in the life of a community on an exceptional scale, and one, which the community or other authorities are unable to remedy without substantial external assistance.

Emergency Operations Program (EMOP) - World Food Programme (WFP): The mechanism whereby WFP provides emergency food for the victims of sudden disasters or abnormal droughts, and initial assistance to refugees and displaced persons.

Endowments: Financial mechanisms through which sales proceeds are deposited into an interest-bearing account with only the interest earned used to finance project activities.

Entitlement: An individual's endowment or initial resource bundle, which is transformed via production and trade into food or commodities which can be exchanged for food. (Sen 1981)

Evaluation: A relatively structured analytical effort undertaken selectively to answer specific management questions regarding USAID-funded assistance programs or activities. Evaluation focuses on why results are or are not being achieved, on unintended consequences, or on issues of interpretation, relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, or sustainability. It addresses the validity of the causal hypothesis underlying strategic objectives and embedded in results frameworks. Evaluative activities may use different methodologies or take many different forms, e.g. ranging from highly participatory review workshops to highly focused assessments relying on technical experts.

Exchange Rate: Also "rate of exchange"; the price at which one currency can be bought with another currency or commodity such as gold. Ideally, the rate is determined by supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, but is frequently fixed by government.

Excise Tax: A form of sales tax on certain commodities.

Export Enhancement Program: Export subsidies for US farmer to export grains and oilseeds authorized by the 1985 Farm Bill. Designed to compete with the export subsidy programs of the EC, the EEP lowered previously high domestic US support prices and used on-hand surplus of agricultural inventories to subsidize exports.

Fair Market Price: Also "competitive market price"; in monetization, a sales price that reflects the value of a similar commodity in the same market and, as such, does not place local producers or traders at a marketing disadvantage.

Famine Early Warning System (FEWS): A generic term that includes methods of advance forecasting of food insecurity and famine using satellite imagery and ground-level crop, demographic and market observations. FEWS is also a USAID Africa Bureau-funded project that aggregates remotely sensed and in country collected data, which is then analyzed. The resulting information is given to decision-makers to assist them in choosing timely emergency interventions in African countries. More detailed information on FEWS may be found online at http://www.fews.org/

Field Operations Guide for Disaster Assessment and Response (FOG): The FOG was development by USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Response (OFDA) as a reference tool for individuals sent to disaster sites to perform initial assessments or to participate as members of an OFDA Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART). The FOG contains information on general responsibilities for disaster responders, formats and reference material for assessing and reporting on populations at risk, DART position descriptions and duty checklists, sample tracking and accounting forms, descriptions of OFDA stockpile commodities, general information related to disaster activities, information on working with the military in the field and a glossary of acronyms and terms used by OFDA and other disaster response and humanitarian relief organizations.

Food Aid: Edible commodities donated to needy populations. U.S. government food aid is authorized under the agricultural appropriations bill, not foreign operations.

Food Aid Consultative Group: Established by Section 205 of the 1990 Farm Bill, this group is to meet regularly and make recommendations regarding Title II regulations, guidance and procedures. Included in the group are the AID Administrator, the USDA Under Secretary for International Affairs and representatives of each PVO participating in the Title II program or receiving planning assistance funds, plus representatives from indigenous PVOs in recipient countries.

Food, Agriculture, Conservation and Trade Act (Farm Bill, FACT Act): Public Law 101-624 passed by Congress in 1990 that extends USG loans and grants of commodities to developing countries for five years (1991-1996). Food resources are directed to five purposes:

to combat world hunger and malnutrition and their causes;
to promote broad based, equitable and sustainable development;
to expand international trade;
to develop and expand export markets for US commodities;
to foster the development of private enterprise and democratic participation in developing countries.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO): UN agency responsible for promoting agricultural development, dissemination of advanced agricultural techniques, combating plant/livestock diseases, promoting soil conservation, tracking global trends in food production and consumption, monitoring food deficit problems, and to promote sharing of knowledge in food processing, and food safety. The Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) of FAO estimates food production and food needs in famine-prone countries.

Food Deficit Countries: Countries where food supplies are not sufficient to meet the population's demands. Neither do they produce enough nor do they have sufficient foreign exchange to pay for imports needed to meet the country's food demand.

Food for Peace: The general term applied to the food-donation program authorized by the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 (P.L. 480), as amended.

Food for Peace Officer (FFPO): USAID representative who advises and assists the mission, PVO, and counterpart personnel on P.L. 480 matters and who oversees, monitors, and manages Title II projects and activities.

Food for Progress Act: Section 1110 of the Food Security Act of 1985, as amended, authorizing use of Title I and Section 416 resources to assist emerging democracies and developing countries which are committed to expanding free enterprise by liberalizing commodity pricing, marketing, input availability, distribution, and private sector involvement. USDA is responsible for this program.

Food Security: The 1990 Farm Bill first identified the concept of food security as an objective of U.S. food assistance programs. In the Bill, food security was defined simply as "access by all people at all times to sufficient food to meet their dietary needs for productive and healthy life." The USAID Food Aid and Food Security Policy Paper (1995) and the U.S. Position Paper for the World Food Summit in Rome, Italy (November, 1995) further expanded and refined the definition to encompass the three dimensions of access, (individuals and households have the resources to acquire appropriate foods for nutritious diet), availability (sufficient quality of appropriate quality food supplied via domestic production or imports) and utilization (adequate food diet available with water, sanitation and health care). Through the World Food Summit, this definition has been accepted by most nations. The USAID Food Aid and Food Security Policy Paper may be found online at: http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/ffp/fspolicy.htm

Free Alongside Ship (FAS): Transport term whereby seller is obligated to procure and deliver goods alongside the vessel, and clear them for export.

Free on Board (FOB): Export price including loading and port charges. The seller is obligated to place the goods aboard a named carrier at a specified port, obtain a clean bill of lading attesting to this performance, and pay the freight charges of inland carriers.

Global Programs or Activities: Global programs or activities refer to USAID programs or activities which take place across various regions, (i.e. they are trans-regional in nature). These types of programs are most often managed by central operating bureaus such as DCHA or the Global Bureau.

Guaranteed Export Credit (GSM 102/3): USG program whereby the USDA (CCC) guarantees commercial loans for foreign purchases of US commodities.

Humanitarian Assistance: Is a broad term that includes all types of external aid to respond to as well as prevent, mitigate, and prepare for, humanitarian emergencies.

Indigenous Coping Strategies: Activities and behavior patterns adopted by households under the stress of food insecurity, including reducing food consumption, engaging in wider-ranging migration in search of wage labor possibilities and food assistance, dry season farming, sending children off to stay with distant relatives, reducing recreational activity, and selling assets including tools, land, and homes.

Initial Environmental Examination (IEE): When an AID funded activity has the potential to affect the environment, documentation is required in the form of an IEE to determine whether or not the activity will have significant adverse environmental impact. The IEE must be submitted with a DAP or TAP, and is updated annually through an Environmental Status Report (ESR) submitted with the PAA.

Inland Transport: The activity or cost of moving food from ocean port to the first point of delivery in the country within which distribution or sale will occur.

Intermediate Result: An important result that is seen as an essential step to achieving a Strategic Objective. Intermediate Results (IRs) are measurable results that may capture a number of discrete and more specific results. IRs may also help to achieve other Intermediate Results.

Internal Transport, Storage and Handling (ITSH): The major complementary expenses of moving food within a recipient country from port to final distribution, as paid for out of the PL 480 account ITSH funds are awarded by FFP to support the costs of internal transport, storage, and handling incurred in Title II programs.

Kansas City Commodity Office (KCCO): The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) office is responsible for the acquisition, handling, transportation, and disposition of Title II commodities, including fiscal and claims responsibilities prior to export. More detailed information regarding KCCO may be found online at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/dam/kcmo/overview.htm

Leading Indicators: Measurements used when changes exist in conditions prior to the onset of decreased food access. Such indicators include, crop failures (i.e., poor access to seed and other inputs due to inadequate rainfall), sudden deterioration of range land conditions or condition of livestock (i.e., unusual migration movements, unusual number of animal deaths, or large number of young females being offered for sale), significant deterioration in local economic conditions (i.e., increase in price of food grain and increases in unemployment), significant accumulation of livestock by some households (due to depressed prices caused by oversupply).

Local Capacity Building: The process of one organization passing on a skills and knowledge base to another organization. Very often this involves a mutual exchange or sharing of skills and knowledge, or a process of working in partnership to achieve a set of objectives. Building local capacity can take place between two or more organizations, or it can be accomplished among different levels of the same organization.

Low-Income Countries: Officially those countries with per capita income below the level used by the World Bank to determine eligibility for grants under the International Development Assistance fund.

Low Income, Food Deficit Country (LIFDC): For purposes of Title II programming, LIFDCs are those food-deficit (i.e., net importing basic foodstuffs) countries with per capita GNP not exceeding the level used by the World Bank to determine eligibility for International Development Association (IDA) (soft loan) assistance. FFP references the list published by the Food and Agriculture Organization to determine a country's status as an LIFDC.

Meals Ready to Eat (MRE): Standard USG issued, preprocessed enclosed meal, including a balanced mix of foods, for consumption during wartime by US troops, and distributed on occasion as foreign aid.

Minimums and Sub-Minimums: As provided in the 2002 Title II Development Program Policies, US legislative annual targets for commodity tonnage by type: (a) at least 75% of Title II for development programs should be in the form of processed or fortified products or bagged commodities; (b) a sub-minimum of 1.875 million metric tons for non-emergency programs operated by the PVOs, the World Food Program and the cooperatives; and (c) at least 75% of all food aid shipped must be on a US flag carrier.

Monetization: The selling of agricultural commodities to obtain foreign currency for use in U.S. assistance programs. PVOs monetize USG donated commodities through PL480 Title II and USDA programs. Monetization can be conducted by direct negotiation with government parastatals or through sealed-bid auctions to wholesalers and mid-level merchants.

Monetization Field Manual (MFM): Published by USAID in 1998, this manual defines and describes the requirements of both partial and 100% monetization programs. It provides guidelines on how to develop a monetization program. The manual may be found online at http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/ffp/monetiz.htm.

Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA): The office within the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance administers international disaster relief, management and preparedness program and aids victims of natural disasters throughout the world.

Output: The product of a specific action, e.g., number of people trained, MT of food delivered. A tangible, immediate, and intended product or consequence of an activity within an organization's control or manageable interest.

Parastatal: A business owned and controlled by a government.

Participation: The active engagement of partners and customers in sharing ideas, committing time and resources, making decisions, and taking action to bring about a desired development objective.

Performance Baseline: The value of a performance indicator at the beginning of a planning and/or performance period. A performance baseline is the point used for comparison when measuring progress toward a specific result or objective. Ideally, a performance baseline will be the value of a performance indicator just prior to the implementation of the activity or activities identified as supporting the objective that the indicator is meant to measure.

Performance Indicator: A particular characteristic or dimension used to measure intended changes defined by an organizational unit's results framework. Performance indicators are used to observe progress and to measure actual results compared to expected results. Performance indicators serve to answer "whether" a unit is progressing towards its objective, rather than why/why not such progress is being made. Performance indicators are usually expressed in quantifiable terms, and should be objective and measurable (numeric values, percentages, scores and indices). Quantitative indicators are preferred in most cases, although in certain circumstances qualitative indicators are appropriate.

Performance Monitoring: A process of collecting and analyzing data to measure the performance of a program, process, or activity against expected results. A defined set of indicators is constructed to regularly track the key aspects of performance. Performance reflects effectiveness in converting inputs to outputs, outcomes and impacts (i.e., results).

Performance Monitoring Plan: A detailed plan for managing the collection of data in order to monitor performance. It identifies the indicators to be tracked; specifies the source, method of collection, and schedule of collection for each piece of datum required; and assigns responsibility for collection to a specific office, team, or individual. At the Agency level, it is the plan for gathering data on Agency goals and objectives. At the Operating Unit level, the performance monitoring plan contains information for gathering data on the strategic objectives, intermediate results and critical assumptions included in an operating unit's results frameworks.

Performance Monitoring System: An organized approach or process for systematically monitoring the performance of a program, process or activity towards its objectives over time. Performance monitoring systems at USAID consist of, inter alia: performance indicators, performance baselines and performance targets for all strategic objectives, strategic support objectives, special objectives and intermediate results presented in a results framework; means for tracking critical assumptions; performance monitoring plans to assist in managing the data collection process, and; the regular collection of actual results data.

Performance Target: The specific and intended result to be achieved within an explicit time frame and against which actual results are compared and assessed. A performance target is to be defined for each performance indicator. In addition to final targets, interim targets also may be defined.

Public Law (PL) 480, Titles I, II and III:

Title I: Concessional loans to developing countries to purchase food or agricultural commodities determined to be surplus to the domestic and commercial export requirements of the United States by the Secretary of Agriculture. The USDA administers program.
Title II: A program to provide agricultural commodities to foreign countries on behalf of the people of the United States to address famine or other urgent or extraordinary relief requirements; combat malnutrition, especially in children and mothers; carry out activities that attempt to alleviate the causes of hunger, mortality or morbidity; promote economic and community development; promote sound environmental practices; and carry out feeding programs. Agricultural commodities may be provided to meet emergency food needs through foreign governments and private or public organizations, including intergovernmental organizations. The program is administered by USAID.
Title III: A government to government grants program, entitled Food for Development that is implemented by USAID in food-deficient countries. Local currency is generated by the sale of the commodities which is then utilized for economic development and policy reform activities.

Point of Entry: The first customs point, or any other designated point in a recipient country where imported commodities enter via an ocean port not located in the recipient country.

Pre-Qualification:A process whereby eligibility to bid is determined by a formal process; it might impose standards on bidders, or require a show of good faith, or might simply require registration prior to bidding.

Previously Approved Activity (PAA): The report submitted annually by a CS requesting a fiscal year allocation of commodities and dollars for a multi-year Title II activity. The term "PAA" is one of two new designations for "Operational Plan" as defined in Regulation 11.

Private Voluntary Organization (PVO): A U.S. non-profit organization registered with USAID, which traditionally deals with international programs and is funded by private grants and contributions. In other countries the term used is non-governmental organization or NGO.

Program: Generally defined as the overall efforts of an agency in a region or country. An approved plan for utilizing available Title II commodities in authorized types of development or emergency projects by a CS.

Project: A cluster of one or more activities with a single, clear purpose, usually a finite time-span for implementation, and a single project management. One level of aggregation below the program level in a country program. For food aid, a portion of a cooperating sponsor's approved Title II program.

Recipient Agency Agreements: A written agreement between the cooperating sponsor and the recipient agency prior to the transfer to a recipient agency of commodities, monetized proceeds, or other program income for distribution or implementation of an approved program.

Regulation 11: The primary USAID regulation containing detailed and specific terms and conditions governing the transfer and use of P.L. 480 Title II commodities in emergency relief and non-emergency programs.

Result: A change in the condition of a customer or a change in the host country condition that has a relationship to the customer. A result is brought about by the intervention of USAID in concert with its development partners. Results are linked by causal relationships, i.e., a result is achieved because related and/or interdependent outcomes were achieved. Strategic objectives are the highest level result for which an operating unit is held accountable; intermediate results are those results that contribute to the achievement of a strategic objective.

Results Framework: The results framework represents the development hypothesis including those results necessary to achieve a strategic objective and their causal relationships and underlying assumptions. The framework also establishes an organizing basis for measuring, analyzing, and reporting results of the operating unit. It typically is presented both in narrative form and as a graphical representation.

Results Package: A results package (RP) consists of people, funding, authorities, activities and associated documentation required to achieve a specified result(s) within an established time frame. An RP is managed by a strategic objective team (or a results package team if established) which coordinates the development, negotiation, management, monitoring and evaluation of activities designed consistent with: (1) the principles for developing and managing activities; and (2) achievement of one or more results identified in the approved results framework. The purpose of a results package is to deliver a given result or set of results contributing to the achievement of the strategic objective.

Section 416(b) of the Agricultural Act: Legislation of 1949, which allows for surplus commodities to be donated for overseas aid, for instance as grants to PVOs and to governments. Funds appropriated are not charged to the 150-budget account but are treated as domestic programs because commodities generally are taken from the US agricultural price support program. Effective December 1991, USDA took sole statutory responsibility for these donations, previously shared with AID under a memorandum of understanding. Legislated targets: Allocate a minimum of 500,000 MT of grains and oilseeds annually, 150,000 MT of dairy products annually, 5% of the value of Section 416 to monetizations by PVOs and cooperatives and allocate a minimum of 75,000 to Food for Progress. The interest arising from the principal sum only.

Section 202(e) of Farm Bill: PL 480 legislation which as of 1990 provides nearly $20 million per year to PVOs and WFP to cover complementary cash costs of food programs in the field. 202(e) grants fund only in-country expenses toward improving the management and efficiency of Title II programs.

Tariff: A tax levied by a national government on goods that are imported or, less often, exported across its borders. The amount collected is called the "duty" or "customs duty."

Third Country Monetization: A monetization in which commodities are sold in one country and the foreign currency generated is used to support the implementation of a Title II program in that country and/or another country in the same region.

Transient Food Insecurity: Seasonal or annual fluctuations in food insecurity due to factors that may be expected to change from period to period, such as prices, weather or economic conditions. (See also Chronic Food Insecurity)

Transparency: Policy that mandates that all phases of the monetization process be carried out openly with full public disclosure.

Triangular Transactions: Monetization activities through which the funds generated by sales in one country are used to purchase foods in surplus in another country which are then transported to a third food-deficit country or region.

Usual Marketing Requirements (UMR): Analysis required under PL480 to ensure that PL480 sales programs do not disrupt world commodity prices or normal commercial trade patterns between the importing country and other friendly countries. The UMR (calculated by USDA) is the minimum quantity of a commodity that the importing country must purchase commercially in a year to maintain the U.S. and friendly country imports to that country. Usually, it is a five year average of the importing country's commercial imports of a commodity. The importing PVO needs to obtain certification from the USAID mission that either no analysis is required because the volume to be imported is so small or that an analysis is required. UMR analysis must be included in the monetization proposal as part of the Bellmon Analysis .

Vulnerable Demographic Groups: Women, especially pregnant and lactating women, and young children (below 5 years of age) and the elderly are considered to be vulnerable because they are most likely to receive less than adequate food within a household and because the consequences of poor nutrition are most severe in these groups as compared with others in a community. Also, the handicapped and persons afflicted with chronic disease, such as HIV/AIDS, are groups that are vulnerable to inadequate food security.

Vulnerable People: There are three basic groups of people categorized by the ability to take advantage of the development process: The potentially productive and mostly subsistence, chronically malnourished, landless, rural poor, urban under-employed, who typically buy or barter more food than they produce and are continually food insecure. The unemployed in rural but mostly in urban settings, who fail to meet their energy needs and are susceptible to illnesses, which place an additional burden on the potential for earning income. The chronically ill and disadvantaged whose ability to work is severely restricted.

Waybill (WB): A document issued by a carrier that contains the same information as a Bill of Lading (origin of goods, destination, consignor, consignee, description of shipment) but, unlike the latter, does not represent a contract between the shipper and the carrier or a document of the title to the goods. It is generally a document used for tracking items sent for distribution, or for transfer between warehouses.

World Food Programme (WFP): A UN agency operating in 80 countries and specializing in food assistance and logistics. WFP channels over $1 billion worth of goods and services a year, representing approximately 1.4 million tons a year for emergencies and refugee feeding. Detailed information regarding WFP programs may be found online at http://www.wfp.org

B. SELECTED FOOD SECURITY RELATED DEFINITIONS

Activity: The work, services, or training performed under a project, as distinct from the mode of food distribution, the project's purposes, inputs or outputs.

Amino Acids: The building blocks of proteins, used throughout the body. 12 are required in the diet (organic compounds possessing at least one amino group and one acidic carboxyl group): isolucine, leucine, lysine, histidine, methionine, cystine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.

Anemia: A deficiency of oxygen-transport capacity of the blood that leads to fatigue, impaired work capacity increased maternal mortality, increased cardiac failure, and decreased cognitive function in humans. Results from inadequate consumption, digestion or absorption of iron, vitamin B12, vitamin B1, folic acid, or vitamin E. Outward signs include listlessness, lack of red veins evident in lining of the eyelids and whites of eyes, and pale fingernails. Anemia can also result from hemolytic (red blood cell destruction) bacterial infections, malaria, blood loss due to certain parasites or ulcers or by genetic disorders such as thalassemia or G-6-PD deficiency.

Anthropomorphic Measurement: Includes measures of distance across shoulders (biacromial), head circumference, pelvic width, arm length, skinfold (fat) thickness, and many other indicators of human physical development. Anthropometric measures are used to indirectly assess the nutritional status of individuals. Specifically, those measurements used commonly in the growth monitoring of infants, children and school-aged children and to monitor the health and diets of entire populations.

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): The portion of human energy, or kilocalorie, use involved in homeostasis, or merely living and breathing. Excludes work activities, walking, standing, thinking, and digestion of foods. Typically measured on a daily basis and estimated to represent between 60% and 70% of total minimum energy requirements. BMR can be as low as 30% of total requirements among the physically active. It is important to know, for instance, for calculating survival rations and food-for-work pay scales.

Bioavailability: The relative ability of nutrients in foods to be properly digested, and absorbed. For example, the iron in vegetable foods is less absorbable than the iron in meat foods. The bioavailability of iron in vegetables increases when vitamin C is also present, having been consumed during the same meal.

Body Mass Index (BMI): Measure of an individual's attained growth, measured as the body weight (kg) divided by the square of the height (meters). BMI is an indirect measure of lean body mass and body fat mass.

Complementary Foods: These are required in appropriate quantities to complement breast-feeding or the "basic" foods by providing additional nutrients - especially vitamins and minerals.

Displaced Population: (see Internally Displaced Persons)

Drought: Prolonged and severe lack of water usually caused by a dearth of rainfall. Drought can occur when rainfall occurs at the wrong point in the harvest cycle. Drought also connotes the agricultural crisis and economic challenges that follow water scarcity, including famine.

Famine: Period of starvation for large portions of a population. Famine often results from a sharp downturn in food supply, such as two consecutive years of drought. Famine can also occur in situations where food is plentiful but entitlements to food sharply decrease, for instance through massive recession, unemployment, civil strife, and because of low foreign exchange and income levels of the poor in conjunction with weak infrastructure and low port offtake capacity. Famines effectively redistribute income away from the poor. Mitigation activities reduce the severity of impact. Short-cycle varieties of local crops (e.g. groundnuts or millet) are helpful strategies during crop failures.

Food Aid Management (FAM): An association of 17 US PVOs formed in 1989 to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of overseas food assistance. It promotes sharing of technical and field information among its members and the development of shared PVO food security program guidelines and operating standards. FAM's goals are to: a) facilitate and promote the development of food aid standards, b) promote the food aid and food security knowledge base of PVOs, USAID staff, and other collaborators through information exchange and coordination, and c) facilitate collaboration between PVOs, USAID, and appropriate development and humanitarian professionals by organizing fora for discussions.

Food Basket: (see Food Ration)

General Feeding Program: A program in which food is provided to enable households to meet their basic nutritional needs. Such programs may include all families within a specified population, or be "targeted" on all members of selected sub-groups.

Hunger: Hunger is the experience of having an empty stomach. Hunger should be distinguished from undernutrition, which is the process whereby a person fails to consume adequate nutrients and/or the clinical state, which follows such a failure.

Intra-household food Distribution: The distribution of food within the household. >

Internally Displaced Persons (IDP): Persons who have fled their homes and villages because of persecution, civil strife, food insecurity or other emergency but remain within their country of origin. This definition is used by those who distinguish between displaced and refugee categories as non-overlapping. i.e., once a dislocated person crosses an international border they are no longer "displaced" and then and only then become a "refugee" or asylum seeker.

Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA): Widespread and debilitating micronutrient deficiency that impairs mental development and labor productivity. Iron deficiency anemia is addressed by efforts to increase iron intake (e.g. through food fortification), iron absorption (e.g. making consumed iron more bioavailable), and to reduce iron losses due to blood loss from parasistes (e.g. reducing hookworm).

Malnutrition: Impairment of physical and/or mental health resulting from a failure to fulfill nutrient requirements. Malnutrition may result from consuming too little food, a shortage of key nutrients, or impaired absorption or metabolism due to disease.

Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC): Common measure of child nutritional status that is fast, does not hinge on the accuracy of age reporting, and is quickly interpretable Used as a rapid screening tool for identifying malnourishment in children under five in emergency situations. Not suitable for monitoring the progress of individual children. MUAC is measured in centimeters.

Nutrition Security: Appropriate quantity and combination of food, nutrition, health services, and care takers time needed to ensure adequate nutrition status for an active and healthy life at all times for all people.

On-site or "wet" Feeding: When the food is cooked and distributed for consumption at the distribution center. This type of feeding is generally used in supplementary feeding for selected, highly vulnerable groups.

Ration Package: A combination of selected food commodities in fixed amounts determined for the purpose of meeting nutritional needs or providing an incentive.

Micronutrients: Vitamins and minerals required for human health and survival. A lack of micronutrients can contribute significantly to morbidity and mortality. Micronutrients play and important part in short-term human health, risk of death, and in long-term human function.

PVO Monetization Manual: In FY98, the FAM Monetization Working Group commissioned the publication of an updated monetization manual for use by all CSs engaged in the monetization of Title II commodities. The manual may be found online at http://www.foodaidmanagement.org/monetization3.htm

Refugee: "Persons recognized as refugees under the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, the 1969 Organization of African Unity (OAU) Conventions Governing Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, persons recognized as refugees in accordance with the UNHCR Statute, persons granted humanitarian or comparable status and those granted temporary protection."

Starvation: Starvation is life-threatening undernutrition, when a poor nutritional state unilaterally raises vulnerability to mortality through any means (De Waal 1991). Physical and biological condition describing chronic lack of food, which leads to death.

Supplementary Feeding: A program in which food is provided to selected individuals to prevent or treat malnutrition. The beneficiaries are selected, according to prescribed criteria, as being malnourished and/or nutritionally at risk, and are discharged when it is determined that they are no longer malnourished or at risk. The rations are additional to what the beneficiaries would normally receive as their share of the general household ration and food commodities selected reflect the unique physiological needs of this group.

Take-home or "Dry" Distribution: Food distributed in bulk and without cooking. Generally, several days or weeks' worth of supplies are provided. The food is expected to be shared by all family members.

Targeting: Any method by which an intervention is designed or implemented so that benefits accrue selectively to only a portion of the overall population. Targeting can be by geographic concentration, eligibility requirements such as age, sex or health status, or by means tests that assess household income. The efficiency of targeting decreases as the proportion of the population that is food insecure increases. Targeting generally becomes inefficient when the targeted group comprises 50% or more of the population.

Weight-for-Age (underweight): Most common method of assessment is the proportion of children below -2 standard deviations (S.D.) weight-for-age or less than 80% of the standard reference weight for age (measurement in kilograms compared with age in months in children under five.)

Weight-for-Height (WFH) (wasting): Ratio of weight in grams to height in centimeters, WFH is the preferred measure for the nutritional status of children under five, because it can be used for both nutritional surveillance and for measuring individual progress. The raw WFH score is compared with international norms and converted into either a percentage of a reference median or a "Z" score. Children with a score less than 80% WFH or -2 Z are considered "wasted." Children under 70% WFH or -3 Z are considered severely malnourished.

Z Scores are a statistical parameter that measures the position of an observational value along a normal distribution (binomial, bell curve) continuum. In field assessments it is commonly used to evaluate individual and groups of infants and children according to their physical growth and nutritional status. A Z score of -2.0 means that the individual falls two standard deviations below the population standard. A -2.0 anthropometric measure indicates that 98% of healthy children have higher growth. A Z score even lower, -2.5 to -3 is suggestive.

Annex I: DEFINITIONS

Updated January 2006

Annex I:
DEFINITIONS