USAID Thesaurus
The history of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is long and complex. The Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC) documents this history while also making historical records easily available to the general public. The USAID Thesaurus is a tool for understanding and effectively using the terminology used in the diverse documents of the DEC. By understanding the way terms are used within the documents in the DEC, users can create searches that pinpoint what they are looking for more quickly. It was created to convey a common understanding of terms drawn from a large repository of over 165000 documents, collected from all parts of the world for over 50 years of Agency history. Within USAID, “diversification” can refer to both crops and economics, and there must be a common understanding of what, exactly, various terms refer to. Since the terms within the USAID Thesaurus reflect documents already produced by the Agency, bureaus and missions can use the Thesaurus as a tool for organizing information within their own systems. As it becomes an accepted tool to promote a common language within the Agency, communications will become more effective.