Reforming Technical Cooperation for Capacity Development

Project overview

This document provides an overview on the project, its timeline and components. Please refer also to the story line (forthcoming) and individual terms of reference for focus studies and other documentation, which can be accessed on the project website http://www.undp.org/capacity

I) Introduction

• Countries need to create, utilize and retain capacity to perform multiple functions in order to reduce poverty, enhance self-reliance and improve people’s lives. Capacity is the ability of individuals and collectives to perform functions, solve problems and set and achieve objectives. Technical Cooperation aims primarily to help countries create, utilize and retain capacity (see also Glossary).
• Technical Cooperation has come under increasing pressure since the early 1980s and despite promises to reform, has still not lived up to its potential. It is still criticized as being inefficient, donor-driven and often as undermining indigenous capacities. Why is this so?
• Over the last decade, several factors have emerged that increase the potential of Technical Cooperation, including globalization, the information revolution, the growth in international markets and an acceleration of the democratization and decentralization of national authority.

Technical Cooperation has in fact undergone “too little change in a rapidly changing world.” Thus it is both timely and urgent to revisit Technical Cooperation and the role it can play in supporting countries in the development of lasting capacities. UNDP (Bureau for Development Policy), in collaboration with the Dutch government and like-minded partners from South and North, is taking the lead in this initiative. The project, Reforming Technical Cooperation for Capacity Development, offers a platform to explore and assess three sets of questions:

1. What is the evidence of success and failure of TC performance? What examples of successful efforts are there to build on? What instances of lost opportunities? And what cases of corrosive practices that actually undermine indigenous capacity?
2. Are donors, recipients and the development community ready for change? What is driving adherence to inappropriate practices? What are the structural and systemic reasons for this adherence -- the vested interests?
3. What are the promising alternatives and options and what needs to be done to introduce and implement them? How do we adopt not only new rhetoric but also new practice?

II)Overview and timeline

The project began with some initial strategizing and a brainstorming meeting that took place in New York on 8 and 9 March 2001. Following a start-up phase, project activities will be launched with a website (www.undp.org/capacity) to go online mid May. At that time outreach to the development constituency will start with a global mailing list to which everyone can subscribe. A particular effort will be made to stimulate discussion on the national level. The draft terms of reference will be available for comments and suitable authors will be identified by early June.

Overview: Project components and time frame

In the beginning of June a first round of focused electronic discussion will start and continue over six weeks. The results will feed into a first roundtable in mid July together with selected single-question papers. By then both focus studies and country studies should be well underway. The hypotheses that emerge from these studies will be the basis for a second round of e-discussion during September and October, feeding into a second roundtable in October. The studies will be nearing completion in November with some additional time to firm up the empirical research on country level. At that stage draft recommendations should be available.

In February 2002 UNDP and the Netherlands will submit the policy recommendations that come out of this project to the OECD/DAC. By then the studies will be published and the book will be launched. Operational tools will be developed based on the insights gained and in tune with the recommendations. afg An Advisory and Facilitation Group from all facets of the development constituency will provide overall guidance to the project.

The process will be open with many opportunities for interaction and to build a constituency for emerging recommendations. It is vital that the voices of developing country partners are heard prominently in all aspects of the debate. It is also important to hear views from beyond the development “establishment,” including those from the private sector, parliamentarians, universities and civil society.

III) Components

Focus Studies and Reviews

Success and Failure

• Desk reviews of donor self-evaluations, OECD/DAC peer reviews, country reviews, an academic literature review and analysis of media coverage.
• Survey of attitudes and perceptions of decision-makers and development practitioners.
• Data analysis to update the research and establish a general overview of recent trends in Technical Cooperation.

Ready for change?

• Ready for change? The donor side
• Ready for change? The recipient side
• Ready for change? The development industry

Three focus studies will look at what could be called the “TC interface” among the donors, the recipients and the development industry. The studies will pursue this question by exploring the competing interests, power constellations and opportunities and constraints in each group that perpetuate outdated practices. Each study will scan the profile of one of these heterogeneous groups, discuss the various functions that TC plays within it, the lobbying and pressures that members of the group respond to, their ability to change and the consequences of moving towards national ownership.

• Alternatives and Options
• Identifying effective markets
• Making capacity "stick"
• What? Where? When? – TC modalities under scrutiny
• Easy to evoke, hard to account for …

Four focus studies will examine the experience and practice of Technical Cooperation in terms of identifying effective markets, responding to real priorities, developing local capacity and establishing structures of accountability. All of these studies will try to push further into the uncharted land that has become the development credo: “ Sustainable development… must be locally owned.”

A first study in this group will examine TC from a market perspective: how supply can most efficiently be matched with real demands. A second study will explore TC efforts from the perspective of sustainability and the conditions needed to ensure that gains are not lost once TC ceases. It will look at questions of sound institutional development and social capital. A third study will scrutinize TC modalities, starting from a vision of full ownership as the “default setting” and working its way down to the conditions under which other, less “ownership friendly” modalities may be justified. The fourth study will explore how TC’s contribution to indigenous capacity development can meaningfully be assessed and monitored, explore the link between TC and capacity development and propose options for moving towards monitoring and evaluation systems with a potential to satisfy (and redefine) donor accountability needs as well as national priorities.

Country studies: “claiming ownership”

A prominent objective of the project is to get the realities of developing countries squarely on the screen. Thus in addition to the seven focus studies, seven case studies will explore the rocky road to ownership, each focusing on the experience of a specific country. These studies will be based on empirical research, since despite the short time frame it should be possible to capture sufficient data, evidence of success or failure, strengthening or corrosion, to allow us to qualify, corroborate or question emerging hypotheses and conclusions.

Countries have not yet been selected and proposals are welcome. Criteria for selection include the potential of finding responses to the three core questions, the usefulness of such a study for the respective country, the availability of an interested, qualified and suitable (team of) author(s). The principal authors will meet in an initial workshop envisaged for June with complementary resource persons (who will also peer review interim and final papers) to determine a common approach.

The book

A book on emerging issues in capacity development will complement the roundtable and discussion process. Developed by UNDP staff, the book will review trends in the reform of Technical Cooperation and outline the new paradigm of knowledge in the network age, including issues related to technology in a networked society; education and technological capacity; growth, knowledge, production and technology; reorganizing business and technology; information and imperfect markets. It will also make the case for new thinking on the role of TC and related reforms and innovations.

Frank debate on national level

Access to the Internet in developing countries is limited and a frank dialogue needs a favourable environment. The project will support a number of events to encourage frank debate among government, representatives of civil society and donors in developing countries, using the UNDP country office network. Countries will be selected based on real interest, creativity in fostering frank exchange and a reasonable probability that a genuine contribution to the overall debate can be expected. Such events may include a diner pensant with key personalities, a panel discussion, a workshop or seminar. They may document a particularly telling case or any other activity that can contribute to shaping the future of Technical Cooperation.
(Please do not send proposals. Suggestions can be made informally with a short note by e-mail. Watch the website.)

Roundtables

At least two roundtables are envisaged, in July and October respectively. The first will focus on issues related to evidence of success and failure and the readiness for change. The second will explore alternatives to current TC practice and strategies on how to get there in practice. These roundtables are being organized in collaboration with the World Bank Institute (WBI). A selected group of analysts and practitioners will be invited to debate the relevant issues in a frank and constructive way.

Single-question papers will be requested to stimulate thought and discussion. Each devoted to a single question, these think pieces will explore questions in an innovative and creative way and make propositions for discussion in the context of the roundtables.

Interactive website: www.undp/capacity.org

A global e-mail list and the website will be the main platform for conveying information about the ongoing work, exchanging views with the widest possible range of interested people from all parts of the development constituency. We are setting up the website around these three themes: success and failure – ready for change? – alternatives and options. Anyone interested is invited to share views, comments or resources and to sign up for a global mailing list to stay “in the loop.”

Electronic discussions

At least two rounds of focused electronic discussion will, for six weeks each, provide the forum to debate relevant issues. The results of these discussions will feed into two roundtables. The website will be managed jointly by the Reforming Technical Cooperation project and the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) in Maastricht and electronic discussion will take place in the context of www.capacity.org

Accessible knowledge base

We hope that in addition to contributing to the discussion on the role of Technical Cooperation the project will make a significant contribution by strengthening the accessible knowledge base. There is a wealth of experience, creativity and ideas that can never be captured in formal reports. Your contributions will help to capture this knowledge. They will be posted on message boards under each set of questions, easy to refer to by everyone. These messages can not only generate discussion but also facilitate future networking. You can lead others to useful information and partners.

To foster sharing of research results, practical experiences and case studies we are also inviting you to participate in a series called Insights in 1,000 Words. These short papers of not more than 1,000 words should present concise syntheses of specific issues, research findings or relevant observations that you deem useful in the context. The papers will follow a common template. All contributions will be fully referenced and links be made to the relevant documents, sites and institutions.

Reflecting the lessons of TC and corresponding to the process nature of development, the terms of reference for this project and all components are subject to adjustments as we progress in understanding the issues and options. It may lead us to a very different notion of what Technical Cooperation should be in the future and how we can get there.

Your views, experience and contributions matter!
Contact us at:ReformingTC@undp.org