Five (More!) International Development Terms to Know
As students across the northern hemisphere prepare to head back to the classroom, it's the perfect time for a refresher of our own. To mark the back-to-school season, we're unpacking five more pieces of international development jargon and clarifying why they matter.
- Blue Economy
According to the World Bank, the Blue Economy is the “sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs, and ocean ecosystem health.” Globally, three billion people depend on marine resources in some way for their livelihoods, and all of us depend on oceans to support the health of our planet. Unfortunately, these critical natural resources are at risk from threats like overfishing, plastic waste, and the destruction of coastal mangroves.
It’s therefore essential that we support economic activities that both protect ocean ecosystems and create opportunities in coastal communities. In Kenya, the BlueBiz program is working with young people to build thriving blue businesses in sectors like ecotourism, aquaculture, and sustainable fishing.
- Cash Crops
A cash crop is anything that a farmer grows for sale on local, national, or international markets, rather than for consumption at home. The production of cash crops is widespread: for example, about 70% of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa sell at least a portion of their harvest annually.
Cash crops are essential for ensuring that farming families can afford housing, healthcare, education, and a balanced diet. Farmers often grow cash crops alongside fruits, vegetables, and grains that they will consume at home. In Central America, for instance, farmers are growing a diverse set of nutrient-rich vegetables for their families in addition to coffee for sale on export markets.
- Ex-Post Evaluations
An ex-post evaluation refers to a study that looks at the impact of a project or initiative after its completion. Often, it is conducted several years after the project ends.
Ex-post evaluations are carried out in a number of fields, from financial regulatory policymaking to transportation investment. In international development, ex-post evaluations are particularly useful for determining whether a project’s impacts are sustained over time–for example, measuring not just whether coffee farmers adopt new practices, but whether they continue to use those practices years later.
A recently published ex-post evaluation found that entrepreneurs participating in two TechnoServe programs in Latin America continued to see benefits years after they completed their training.
- Loss and Damage Fund
Formally the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage, the Loss and Damage Fund is a global financial mechanism to help governments and vulnerable communities across Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, and Oceania recover from the impacts of climate change. Negotiators agreed upon the idea for such a fund at the COP27 climate conference in 2022 and operationalized it at COP28 in 2023.
So far, governments from high-income countries have pledged more than $788 million for the fund. The Loss and Damage Fund is expected to disburse its first $250 million in late 2025 and 2026. At least half the funds will be dedicated to Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States, and the focus will be on strengthening the capacity of national governments to respond to climate impacts.
- Rainwater Harvesting
Rainwater harvesting refers to the collection and storage of rainwater for future use–at home, in a business, or on a farm–rather than allowing it to run off. As weather patterns become more erratic globally and more regions become water-stressed, finding opportunities to use rainwater efficiently takes on greater importance.
In India, a quarter of all rainfall is estimated to run off to the ocean without being used for agriculture. Working with farming communities in the semi-arid region of Rajasthan, TechnoServe is helping families construct rooftop rainwater harvesting systems, which allow them to collect water during periods of abundant rainfall and use it at home or on the farm during later periods of drought.
Want to learn about other international development terms? Check out our past entry in the series and let us know if there are any terms you are curious about.
