Technical cooperation (TC)
Definition
Technical cooperation is the provision of advice and/or skills in the form of specialist personnel, training, scholarships and grants for research and associated costs. Technical cooperation (TC) should not be equated with capacity development which is a much wider concept. TC is one input to the capacity development process.
Why is it important?
- Partner governments may want to access advisory skills and services to pilot and implement new policy approaches, reforms and for capacity development.
Facts and figures
- TC fell from 45% of the bilateral programme in 1997 to 25% in 2003/4.
- Half of the DFID TC spend in 2003/04 was for TC personnel (£250m).
- France, Germany, the US and Japan account for almost three quarters of all TC given by bilateral donors.
DFID/UK position
- DFID supports a vision of TC that is harmonised with that of other donors (for example through pooled funding arrangements), country-led and easy for partner countries to access, preferably through a well functioning market for advisory services that offers real choice to the partner country. For example, DFID supports extensive use of local consultants in India.
- DFID is also committed to using partner country systems for procurement and management of TC where possible. For example, the Ugandan government has insisted on that TC should be aligned with national priorities, and has accounted for DFID’s provision of TC within its budget
- A major evaluation is underway on DFID provision of TC, focused on the provision of technical personnel for the public sector in sub-Saharan Africa since 1999. This looked at how TC support has been designed, and what the outcomes have been. Findings will be published in early 2006
- DFID supports the
Good Practice Principles for Capacity Development in the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)-Development
Assistance Committee (DAC). DFID also supports the
Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, which commits all DAC partners
to untying (that is not requiring recipients to purchase certain goods and
services in return for aid given) and to strengthening capacity by
coordinated support consistent with parties national development strategies.
All UK development assistance has been untied since April 2001.
International perspectives
- Although there is broad agreement among donors that TC should be reformed, many donors have not changed their approach in practice. Some are reluctant to untie TC if this shifts procurement to other OECD countries, for example.
- Donors are increasingly making use of pooled funding arrangements for provision of TC. This has had mixed results: the short-term costs of pooling can be high (reaching agreement among donors), and those anxious for early delivery may be tempted to pull out and act unilaterally. In some cases, partner countries have been unwilling to take control of TC given weak capacity. However, DFID believes that benefits will accrue in the longer-term, once partner countries have built their capacity to manage such processes, and once donors are sufficiently harmonised to reduce transaction costs on partners.
Issues to be Addressed
- There has been a lively history of criticism of TC since the 1970s, focusing on its high costs and variable impact, the additional costs imposed by using tied aid (where donors require recipients to use their consultants, goods and services), and the failure of donors to ensure that TC provided has sufficient country ‘ownership’ (or involvement and commitment).
- DFID had expected new aid instruments, such as sector wide approaches and poverty reduction budget support, to reduce the need for TC. This has not been the case: TC remains an important tool that often complements other aid instruments.
- Countries that need TC most have weak capacity. Donors are less willing to apply good practice principles in such cases, for example, allowing partner governments to procure and manage TC.
Further information
- Aid untying
- Technical Co-operation: how does it benefit the poor?
Last updated: 23 February 2006
