Glossary of Terms
Abject Poverty - the state of struggling to meet one's basic needs (food, water, shelter, clothing). Commonly defined as living on less than US $1 per day. (See also Extreme Poverty.) Activist-Philanthropist - someone who takes on an issue/problem and uses his/her abilities to advocate for change, educate, and fundraise to make an impact; someone who doesn't just give money to affect change, but advocates for social justice as well. Advocacy - The act of pleading or arguing in favor of something, such as a cause, idea, or policy; active support. (Source: American Heritage Dictionary) Biodiversity - the variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a particular habitat. (Source: Oxford English Dictionary) Maintaining biodiversity is important for the health of an ecosystem. Civilian - a person who is not a member of the police or armed forces. (Source: Cambridge Dictionary) Charity Model - a common model of international relief efforts in which the relief organization operates without input from the people on the ground who are receiving their aid. Because of this disconnect, the "charity model" does not always provide what is really needed or fund long-term solutions for a population in need. This model is in contrast to supporting social entrepreneurship initiatives. See "Philosophy of Giving" for a full explanation of this distinction. Constituents - body of citizens who are entitled to elect a representative or the residents of an electoral district. Developed Country -a country whose per capita income is high by world standards. Other terms include first world country and industrialized country. (Source: Deardorff's Glossary of International Economics.) Developing Country - a country whose per capita income is low by world standards. As it is usually used, it does not necessarily mean that the country's income is rising. (Source: Deardorff's Glossary of International Economics.) Divestment - an example of financial activism. Many universities, governmental institutions, individuals, and corporations have invested money in companies that directly or indirectly support human rights violations. Activists can pressure these stockholders to divest - to sell their assets in these companies - so that they are not implicitly supporting these violations with their money. For example, students in the US have pressured American universities to divest from companies who have a relationship with the government of Sudan, who is committing and condoning the genocide of the Darfuri minority group in their country. (compare with Shareholder Activism). Economic Development - a sustained increase in the economic standard of living of a country's population, normally accomplished by increasing its physical and human capital and improving its technology. ((Source: Deardorff's Glossary of International Economics.) Environmental Degradation - the diminishment of a local ecosystem or the entire biosphere due to human activity. Environmental degradation occurs when nature's resources (such as trees, habitat, earth, water, air) are consumed faster than nature can replenish them. An unsustainable situation occurs when natural capital (the sum total of nature's resources), is used up faster than it can be replenished. Sustainability requires that human activity, at a minimum, only uses nature's resources to the point where they can be replenished naturally. (Source: Wikipedia.com) Eradicate - to get rid of completely or destroy something bad. (Source: Cambridge Dictionary) Extreme Poverty - The UN defines extreme poverty as the state of living on less than $1 per day. This statistic is $1 under the purchasing power parity exchange rate, where one dollar in the US is equal to a dollar anywhere else in how much it will buy. See also "Issues: Poverty Hunger". Fair Trade - a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers. (Source: FINE -Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International, International Fair Trade Association, Network of European Workshops and European Fair Trade Association) Free Trade - international trade left to its natural course without tariffs, quotas, or other restrictions. (Source: Oxford English Dictionary) The basic argument for free trade is based on the economic theory of comparative advantage: each region should concentrate on what it can produce most cheaply and efficiently and should exchange its products for those it is less able to produce economically. (Source: Columbia Encyclopedia) Financially Transparent - an organization in which the direction of all incoming and outgoing funds are available to the public. Generation Y - people born between the years of 1980 and 1995. Genocide - any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religions group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; forcible transferring children of the group to another group. (Source: United Nations) Grassroots - the ordinary people in a society, movement, or organization. (Source: Cambridge Dictionary of American English) HIV/AIDS - HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a virus that attacks a person's immune system, making his/her body unable to defend against infections. AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is the condition caused when HIV has severely depleted the immune system and the body becomes unable to fight off infections and cancers. Infant Mortality Rate - the number of children dying before the age of one divided by the number of live births that year. Often used as a measure of a country's development because many of these early deaths are due to preventable causes and could have been avoided with adequate healthcare. Infrastructure - the basic physical systems of a country's or community's population, including roads, railways, utilities, water, sewage, etc. These systems are considered essential for a productive economy and a high standard of living. Developing infrastructure often requires large initial investment, but the long-term benefits are huge. (Source: Investor Words) Governments or private companies might supply these transportation services, so they can be publicly or privately held. In-kind Donation - any donation that isn't money (ex. free copies, food, etc.) Media Advisory - an "alert" sent to the press to let them know about an upcoming event or an event that already occurred. Sometimes called a press release. Microcredit - very small loans to unemployed, poor entrepreneurs and others living in poverty who are too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. It is a financial innovation which originated in developing countries and has successfully enabled extremely impoverished people (mostly women and unemployed youth) to engage in self-employment projects which allow them to generate an income and, in many cases, begin to build wealth and exit poverty. (Source: Wikipedia) Multilateral - involving more than two groups or countries. (Source: Cambridge Dictionary). For example: The United Nations. Networking - meeting with people, groups, and organizations with the intent to recruit them into your project. N.G.O. - an acronym for "Non-Governmental Organization." NGOs are usually non-profit organizations that gain at least a portion of their funding from private sources. Non-Profit Organization - an organization that exists for educational or charitable reasons from which its shareholders or trustees do not benefit financially. Also called not-for profit organization. (Source: Investor Words) Primary School - The first few years of a child's structured education. Philanthropy - the effort or inclination to increase the well-being of humankind, as by charitable aid or donations OR love of humankind in general OR something, such as an activity or institution, intended to promote human welfare. (Source: American Heritage Dictionary) Purchasing Power Parity - (PPP) equivalent buying power in different currencies: a way of estimating national income by showing the number of currency units required to buy the same amount of goods and services in another country as one currency unit would buy at home. (Source: Encarta Dictionary) Refugee - a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster. (Source: Oxford English Dictionary) Relative Poverty - measures the extent to which a household's financial resources falls below an average income threshold for the economy. (Source: Tutor2u) Sanction - A coercive measure adopted usually by several nations acting together against a nation violating international law. (Source: American Heritage Dictionary) Shareholder Activism - when shareholders use their power to pressure companies to change their activities or policies regarding a specific issue. This is in contrast to divestment, where shareholders show their objections to a company's policies by selling their shares in the company. Social Change Philanthropy - giving that aims to address the root causes of social and economic inequalities. (Source: Foundation News and Commentary Magazine) Social Entrepreneur - A social entrepreneur is someone who recognizes when a part of society is "stuck" in a way that's not working and provides new ways to get it "unstuck." For example, when a society fails to deal effectively with corruption in the government or when school fees are so high that most children can't afford school. A social entrepreneur questions the established way of doing things when they are not working. S/he solves the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to take new leaps (Source: Ashoka Foundation, See 'Philosophy of Giving' section for more explanation.) Standard of Living - a level of material comfort as measured by the goods, services, and luxuries available to an individual, group, or nation. (Source: American Heritage Dictionary) Suffrage - the civil right to vote, or the exercise of that right. Sustainability - providing the best for people and the environment both now and in the indefinite future (Source: Wikipedia.com) Sustainable Development - a process of developing land, cities, business, communities, and so on that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (according to a 1987 report from the United Nations). Trafficking - the illegal movement or sale of people or things often used with guns, drugs and forced labor. UN Millennium Development Goals - The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education - form a blueprint agreed to by all the world's countries and leading development institutions for achieving progress on major global issues by 2015. In each of the eight areas the MDGs lay out measurable changes that are based in economic research and are possible to achieve by 2015 if every country and institution contributes its promised part. Vetted - thoroughly examined and evaluated. |
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