Glossary

Effects

Intended or unintended changes due directly or indirectly to an intervention (OECD, 2023).

Inputs

The financial, human and material resources used in humanitarian action (ALNAP 2016).

Outcomes

Intended or unintended changes or shifts in conditions due directly or indirectly to an intervention. They can be desired (positive) or unwanted (negative). They can encompass behaviour change (actions, relations, policies, practices) of individuals, groups, communities, organisations, institutions or other social actors (ALNAP, 2016).

Outputs

The products, goods and services that result from an intervention (ALNAP, 2016).

Results

The outputs, outcomes or impacts (intended or unintended, positive or negative) of an intervention (OECD, 2023).

Results chain

The causal sequence of an intervention that stipulates the different stages leading to the achievement of desired objectives. In general, the results chain starts with inputs, which then link to activities and outputs and culminate in outcomes and impacts. In some cases, reach is included as part of the results chain (OECD, 2023).

Theory of change

A comprehensive description and illustration of how and why a desired change is expected to happen in a particular context. It focuses particularly on mapping out or ‘filling in’ what has been described as the ‘missing middle’ between what a programme or change initiative does (its activities or interventions) and how these lead to desired goals being achieved (Center for Theory of Change, n.d.).