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Definitions

Activities: specific tasks within a project or programme. For example, community nurseries, farm forestry and improved stoves can all be activities.
Assessment: identification and analysis of the problems and solutions which then form the basis of a project, a programme or an activity.
Baseline: information collected in the early stage of activities in order to focus the activities and describe the starting point against which future change can be measured.
Beneficiaries: those people who directly benefit from project activities. The term "the community" is used for those who indirectly and directly benefit.
Community: a group of people who live in the same area, and often share common goals, common social rules and/or family ties.
Community Forestry: any forestry activities which are carried out by individuals in the community in order to increase benefits they value.
Effects: the result brought about by a specific activity or set of related activities.
Evaluation: a measure of progress to determine whether original objectives have been achieved and if they are still relevant.
Extension: transfer of ideas and technologies through media or dialogue. Extension generally implies a one-way transfer of knowledge, from outsider to insider. But in a participatory approach, extension is defined as a two-way communication of knowledge.
Impact: the broad changes (for example in economic and social terms) brought about by the project or programme.
Information System: the organization, collection, analysis and presentation of information.
Inputs: the resources such as time, labor, materials that are necessary to carry out activities.
Insiders: those people who identify with and belong to a community and/or have a dependent relationship with the community.
Indicators: (Indirect) substitute or proxy for phenomena that cannot be measured directly or conveniently. For example an indirect indicator of poverty might be whether a house has a thatch or a tin roof. (Direct) measurement of phenomena that directly relate to question asked. For example a direct indicator of crop productivity would be measurement of crop yields. (Key) direct or indirect indicators essential to answer the questions being asked.
Method: a way to go about planning, organizing and implementing an activity or group of activities.
Monitoring: systematic recording and periodic analysis of information.
Objectives (Overall): what the project or programme hopes to achieve in the long-term. Overall objectives are often very broad, such as "to increase the quality of rural life".
Objectives (Immediate): the particular accomplishments that, when achieved, will result in the overall objectives being met. Immediate objectives are often more tangible than overall objectives. For example, "to increase crop production by 25%".
Outputs: the measurable results of activities.
Outsiders: those people who may be involved in a community for a period of time, but who do not identify themselves, or are not identified by the community as belonging to that specific community.
Participation: the active involvement of insiders and outsiders in all decisions related to objectives and activities, as well as the activities themselves. The primary purpose of participation is to encourage community self-determination and thus foster sustainable development.
Programme/ Project: the organization of material resources, people and labour for specific and stated purposes. A programme or project can be created and controlled by insiders, or by insiders and outsiders working together.
Qualitative: information which is descriptive, having to do with quality.
Quantitative: information which is numerical, having to do with quantity.
Sustainability: the continuance, by insiders, of community and forestry development after the majority of inputs from outsiders have ceased.
Two-Way Communication: interaction between people that allows for both parties to contribute equally.

Common understanding of words and ideas is important


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