Projects • Glossary

The ability of a national administration to plan for and implement external assistance or the ability of potential beneficiaries to prepare quality projects which would absorb the maximum allocated funds.

Procedure in the decentralisation process, in which EC auditors check whether an implementation system of an EU programme satisfies required standards. Based on their findings the Authorising Officer with the EC grants the conferral of management to the authorities of the beneficiary country.

In the context of the Logframe Matrix, these are the actions (tasks) that have to be taken to produce results

A Gantt chart, a graphic presentation similar to a bar chart, setting out the timing, sequence and duration of projet Activities. It can also be used to identify milestones for monitoring progress, and to assign responsibility for achievement of milestone

Budget earmarked by a donor government, organisation or institution for a certain period of time, in favour of a beneficiary country or organisation to develop certain assistance project(s) or programme(s).

Identification and verification of future desired benefits to which the beneficiaries and target groups attach priority. The product of an analysis of objectives is the objective tree/hierarchy of objectives.

Critical assessment of the alternative ways of achieving objectives, and selection of a set of feasible objective clusters for incluasion in the proposed project.

An expert with an in-depth knowledge of the issues covered by a grant programme who is engaged by a Contracting Authority to carry out a detailed written assessment of a grant application using published assessment forms.

External factors which could affect the progress or success of the project, but over which the project manager has no direct control. They form the 4th column of the Logrframe and are formulated in a positive way, e.g. 'Reform of penal procedures successfully implemented.' If formulated as negative statements, assumptions can become risks.