This “Glossary of Evaluation and Related Terms” was jointly prepared by a committee consisting of evaluation staff of the Office of the Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance of the State Department and USAID to develop a broad consensus about various terms used in monitoring and evaluation of foreign assistance. The primary intended users are the State Department and USAID staff responsible for initiating and managing evaluations of foreign assistance programs and projects. In preparing this glossary, the committee reviewed a wide range of evaluation glossaries published by bilateral and multilateral donor agencies, professional evaluation associations and educational institutions. The committee particularly relied on the glossaries issued by the Evaluation Network of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the National Science Foundation, the American Evaluation Association and Western Michigan University.

This glossary includes terms typically used in the area of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and provides the basis for facilitating a common understanding of M&E. Although most terms in the glossary can be used generically, they are defined in the context of public health and AIDS programs.