About CTA - Supervisory structure

Beneficiary	Recipient of the proceeds from a project/programme or initiative.
Capacity building	Process of assisting an individual or group to identify and address issues and gain the insights, knowledge and experience needed to solve problems and implement change. Facilitated through the provision of technical support activities, including coaching, training, specific technical assistance and resource networking.
Communication	Interactive process of exchange and dialogue. Includes all the methods and mechanisms enabling access to, and sharing of, information products and services.
Community of practice	Groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.
Community platform	An electronic space for the purpose of exchanging information and knowledge and providing services to the target communities (see Community of practice).
Gender	Relates to male/female cultural and power relation issues, not just women’s issues. Also, when something is specifically targeted at men and their perceptions and beliefs.
Indigenous knowledge	Sum total of the knowledge and skills possessed by people in a particular geographical area, that enable them to get the most out of their natural environment.
Information	Data presented in readily comprehensible form, to which meaning has been attributed within the context of its use. In a more dynamic sense, the message conveyed by the use of a medium of communication or expression. Information is the result of processing, manipulating and organising data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the person receiving it.
Information and communication technologies	Technologies that facilitate communication and the processing and transmission of information by electronic means.
Information and communication management	Multidisciplinary concept or practice spanning four main disciplines – information technology, information management, communication, and management – to improve the use of information in the organisation and the society at large.
Information management	Skilful exercise of control over the acquisition, organisation, storage, security, retrieval and dissemination of the information resources essential to the successful operation of a business, agency, organisation or institution, including documentation, records management and technical infrastructure.
Information technology	Broad term encompassing all aspects of the management and processing of information by computer, including the hardware and software required to access it.
Innovation	Introduction of a new product or service, or the adaptation of an existing product or service.
Knowledge	Sum of interconnected rules of interpretation through which we understand, give meaning to, perceive or interpret the world around us. Three types of knowledge can be distinguished: ‘unconscious knowledge’ characterised by perceptions/motives that we are not aware of ‘tacit knowledge’ corresponds to knowledge that we are not immediately aware of, on which we base our day-to-day actions – can be elicited through in-depth discussions and interactive exercises, including the use of IC tools such as maps, 3D models, cognitive maps ‘explicit knowledge’ – the knowledge that we are aware of, have reflected upon and can easily capture in verbal, textual, physical or visual formats, and that transforms into information.
Media	Basic devices that help combine different communication channels for the transportation and exchange of textual, visual, auditory, tactile and or olfactory signals. Different media may be used in the context of methods and methodologies.
Millennium Development Goals	The UN established eight Millennium Development Goals, with a target date of 2015, as a form of blueprint agreed by all the world’s nations and expected to serve as a guideline for the world’s leading development institutions: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Achieve universal primary education Promote gender equality and empowerment Reduce child mortality Improve maternal health Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Ensure environmental sustainability Develop a global partnership for development
Outreach	Effort by an organisation or group to connect its ideas or practices to the efforts of other organisations, groups, specific audiences or the general public. Typically non-profit and civic groups engage in outreach. Often takes on an educational component (dissemination of ideas), but it is increasingly common for organisations to conceive of their outreach strategy as a two-way street – in this case outreach is also framed as engagement, rather than simple dissemination/education. Outreach strategies are linked to the organisation’s mission, and define targets, goals, and milestones.
Partnerships	Generally refers to a form of long-term cooperation in which the parties involved share objectives, interests, strategies, resources, risks and benefits over a predetermined period.

Glossary