Technical assistance: a practical account of the challenges in design and implementation

Nastase, Alexandra; Rajan, Alok; French, Ben C.; Bhattacharya, Debarshi

doi:10.12688/gatesopenres.13205.2

Cited by 1 publication

(15 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(25 reference statements)

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“…As a result, TA may be more valuable as a development tool than the amount of funding received. As such, TA is one of the most widely used modes of delivery in international development assistance (Runde et al,2020;Cox and Norrington-Davies, 2019;Nastase et al, 2020;Nastase et al, 2021).…”

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…• Importance of local ownership: unintended capacity substitution can occur where poor working relationships exist between external experts (e.g., contractors) and TA beneficiaries (e.g., government staff). Poorly designed and/or delivered TA can displace and erode national capacities (Le et al, 2016;Nastase et al, 2021;Cox and Norrington-Davies, 2019).…”

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…• Partnerships and inclusivity: partnerships are key to development for the simple reason that leadership is a collective process requiring inclusive, powerful, and legitimate partners. Inflexible theories of change and action of TA programmes (whether delivered in-house or via contractors) hamper the holistic visioning of the pathway to long-term impact and goals (Bazeley, 2018;Spoth et al, 2007;Nastase et al, 2021).…”

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Achieving measurable results involves using country-led results frameworks and monitoring and evaluation systems. It also involves a process of transparency and accountability, i.e., that countries and their development partners are accountable to each other and constituencies (Nastase et al, 2021;Dercon & Dissanayake, 2020).…”

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hands-on support, training, peer-to-peer learning, coaching, facilitation, embedding externals in government, and South-South cooperation are all examples of technical assistance practices (Nastase et al, 2020;Nastase et al, 2021),…”

Section: Ta To Developing Countries By Development Partnersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effectiveness and Value for Money of Technical Assistance Approaches: In-house vs Contracting

Megersa¹

2022

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In the development field, technical assistance (TA) broadly refers to support for a specific project or country programme in the form of technical advice, research and data sharing, and skills training, among other activities. As a result, TA may be more valuable as a development tool than the amount of funding received. The primary areas of focus for TA include developing a project pipeline, de-risking investments, and assisting TA beneficiaries in their efforts to improve business standards, as well as supporting policy reforms by developing country. Because TA recipients may face a variety of issues, effective TA programmes can take many forms. TA programmes must be established to address beneficiaries’ primary concerns. The goal for both TA recipients and donors should be to determine the main objective of the TA and to select from a variety of technical adviser, taking into account the limitations and enabling conditions for each approach (Nastase et al., 2020). Some useful principles (or good practices) when designing and implementing TA (through in-house or external contracting) include: • Importance of local ownership: • Partnerships and inclusivity: • Effectiveness: • Value-for-money (VFM): TA can be delivered in-house or by contracting out TA to other firms or suppliers. However, each approach has certain merits (VFM and other factors) and shortcomings. There is a very limited evidence base regarding an explicit discussion of the merits of in-house vs commissioned TA programming. Much of the available evidence simply describes TA programme elements – rather than the VFM behind business cases for in-house or contracted TA design and delivery.

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Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ta To Developing Countries By Development Partnersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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