Absolute poverty - A level of poverty of those who do not have the resources to meet the basic needs for healthy living. They do not have the income to provide the food, shelter and clothing needed to preserve health.

Aid - The transfer of goods, services and money between entities such as nations, commercial banks, international agencies or non-governmental agencies. Aid is a highly generalized term, covering both grants and loans.

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) - A group of 29 countries on the Asia Pacific rim, which meets periodically to discuss trade issues and to increase the free flow of trade between Pacific and Asian Nations.

Bilateral Aid - Aid that flows directly between donor and recipient countries

British Commonwealth - an association of nations consisting of the United Kingdom and its dependencies and many former British colonies that are now sovereign states but owe allegiance to the British Crown

Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) - Canada’s lead agency for development assistance, CIDA administers approximately 80 percent of Canada’s aid budget

Cash Crops - Crops that are produced only for the market

Chapati - A flat round unleavened bread, lightly fried in oil or butter

Colonization - The process of a country being taken over and becoming a colony of another

Debt - The accumulated deficits of a government which is the principal amount owed to domestic and international creditors (the people who lend the government money)

Deregulation - The removal of laws and regulations that govern corporations, public utilities and industries in order to facilitate the free flow of trade

Developed Countries - A country that enjoys a relatively high standard of living derived through an industrialized, diversified economy. Countries with a very high Human Development Index (HDI) are generally considered developed countries. This usually coincides with countries that have a high gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. Synonyms: First World, The North, Western World, The West.

Developing Countries - A country with a relatively low standard of living, undeveloped industrial base, and moderate to low Human Development Index (HDI). Synonyms: Third World, The South, Global South, less developed countries, Majority World

Development - The process of improving the quality of all people’s lives within a country

Ecological footprint - A measure of how much productive land and water an individual, city, country, or humanity requires to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb all the waste it generates. The ecological footprint is measured in "global hectares," or units that correspond to one hectare of biologically productive space with world average productivity.

External debt - the total amount of private and public foreign debt owed by a country

Free Trade - Trade arrangements in which tariffs or other barriers to the free flow of goods and services are eliminated

FTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) - Agreement between the United States and Canada, in effect since 1989

Foreign Aid - A form of donation from one country to another country. The main recipients of foreign aid are developing countries (i.e., "the Third World"), and the main contributors are developed countries.

Gender-related development index (GDI) - measures human development by combining three dimensions of development - longevity (life expectancy at birth), knowledge (adult literacy and mean years of schooling), and income. It also takes into account the sociological inequalities between men and women, such as differences in income and education.

Gross domestic product (GDP) - A measure of economic performance (measure of National Income). It is the total value of all goods and services produced within a country during a given year. To avoid counting the same output more than once, GDP includes only final goods and services - not those which are used to make another product. For example, GDP would not include the wheat used to make bread, only the bread itself.

Gross national income (GNI) - Formerly gross national product or GNP. (GNI) is made up of GDP plus the net income earned from investments abroad (minus similar payments made to non-residents who contribute to the domestic economy).

GNI at purchasing power parity (PPP) - is the GNI converted into a rate of exchange that allows a standard comparison of price levels between countries. One PPP dollar has the same purchasing power in the domestic economy that the U.S. dollar has over U.S. economy.

Human Development Index (HDI) - measures human development by combining three dimensions of development: longevity (life expectancy at birth), knowledge (adult literacy and mean years of schooling), and incomeImports - Goods, services and capital assets purchased from overseas countries. The purchase of imports results in the loss of foreign exchange to pay for the goods and is recorded as debits on the balance of payments account.

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) - is a Canadian crown corporation that supports researchers from the developing world in their search for the means to build healthier, more equitable, and more prosperous societies

International Monetary Fund (IMF) - A United Nations agency which promotes trade by increasing the exchange stability of the major currencies. It provides emergency loans to countries that find themselves unable to meet current international payments, in exchange for the imposition of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPS).

Least Developed Countries (LLDC) - The very poorest of the Less Developed Countries

Less Developed Countries (LDC) - Countries who are generally characterised by low levels of GDP and income per head. LDCs usually have a heavy dependence on the primary sector of the economy.

Maize - corn

Majority World - is an alternative term to "Third World," "Developing," or the "Global South"; however, it is considered a more accurate and politically correct word. It refers to the fact that 83 percent of the world population lives in developing countries, and that 76 percent of the worlds nations are developing.

Millennium Development Goals - signed in September 2000, are eight goals that all 191 United Nations member states have agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015. 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. 2. Achieve universal primary education. 3. Promote gender equality and empower women. 4. Reduce child mortality. 5. Improve maternal health. 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. 7. Ensure environmental sustainability. 8. Develop a global partnership for development.

Multilateral Aid - is assistance given to poor countries through international organizations such as the world bank, the international monetary fund, or the EU development fund. Each organization has its own aid programme and is funded by the world's richer, more developed countries.

Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) - Privately owned organizations involved in providing financial and technical assistance to less developed countries

North-South divide - is the socio-economic and political division which exists between the wealthy developed countries, known collectively as "The North," and the poorer developing countries, or "The South." Although most nations comprising the "North" are in fact located in the Northern Hemisphere, the divide is not primarily defined by geography.

OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) - A Paris-based research organization providing the 30 developed country members, including Canada, with information and advice about economic policy

Per capita - means "for each person" and is usually used to indicate the average per person of any given statistic, commonly income.

Population density - is the number of persons per unit of area.

Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) - At the PPP rate the GDP of a country has been adjusted so that it reflects the internal purchasing power of the currency.

Relative poverty - The level of poverty in a country expressed in terms of a certain level of income, such as half of the average wage

Rural urban migration - The migration of people from rural areas to urban areas

Sanction - Government’s refusal to import goods from a country it is protesting or boycotting. Often it is used to punish members of a free trade area for violating trading agreements.

Shamba - Kiswahili (official Kenyan language) for a farm

Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) - are policy reforms created by the IMF that are conditions for getting loans from the IMF and the World Bank for many developing countries. These changes are designed to promote economic growth, to generate income, to pay off the debt which the countries have accumulated. Critics claim that SAPs threaten the sovereignty of national economies because an outside organization is dictating a nation's policy and are responsible for much of the economic stagnation in borrowing countries.

Subsidy - Money given to producers to reduce costs hence the market price of a good or service

Subsistence farming - Farming in which the output is produced for consumption of the farmer and its family members and not for cash sale

Sustainable development - Development where consideration is given to the quality of life of future as well as current generations

Tariff - A tax on goods imposed on the exporting country/corporation and collected by the importing country. Implemented in order to strengthen local economies and promote the sale of nationally made products by making foreign products comparatively more expensive.
The North - The wealthy and technologically advanced nations of the world, as opposed to the South, which is poorer and less developed See Developed Countries.

The South - See Developing Countries.

Third World - A term first coined in 1952 to distinguish nations that aligned themselves with neither the West nor the Soviet Bloc during the Cold War. Today, however, the term is frequently used to denote nations with a low UN Human Development Index (HDI), independent of their political status. The term is now regarded to be derogatory or out-of-date. See Developing Countries.

Ugali - a favourite meal of Kenyans, made up of ground maize flour and water. It takes the form of a cake after it has been cooked.

Urbanisation - The economic and demographic processes involved in the growth of towns and cities.

World Bank - a United Nations agency created to assist developing nations by loans guaranteed by member governments

World Health Organization (WHO) - the United Nations specialized agency for health

World Trade Organization (WTO) - A Geneva-based free trade association with 140 member nations, formed in 1995 to administer the GATT, as well as trade in services and intellectual property. WTO secret panels rule on trade disputes among member nations.