Technical Assistance and Capacity Building in Institutional Reform: Lessons Learned

Abstract

This review highlights the lessons learned from a number of UK-funded reform programmes with TA elements (reviews with insights from USAID and Danida, Norad and Sida were also included in the final section). Some of these UK-funded programmes have taken on more adaptive, flexible approaches to TA, reflective of the recent emergence of the new paradigm referred to above. Learnings from different programmes generally reflect similar aspects of capacity building and are often stated only in highly general terms. The degree to which learnings are taken on board by programmes or other UK programmes to improve practice could not be established. General themes emerging from the learnings include: local ownership, shared vision, understanding context is a key, learn and adapt, dealing with complexity, multi-actor processes, “soft” skills are important, timings and strategy, improved monitoring and evaluation, and improved donor processes and systems.