Technical assistance can increase the capacity of governments to manage their national infrastructure and improve service delivery. Clear lessons can be drawn from existing DFID programmes to better structure future programmes and significantly improve outcomes.
State involvement is necessary for planning, procurement and delivery across the vast majority of infrastructure services. In the coming years, DFID plans to deliver substantial amounts of new infrastructure technical assistance programming to support state capacity in delivering sustainable, affordable, quality infrastructure services, whether publicly and/or privately financed. There is an opportunity to both learn from and improve the existing set of DFID programmes which deliver development outcomes through better infrastructure.
The findings highlight the importance of understanding and analysing the broader institutional and organisational context; recognising the strength and continuity of partnerships with partner government agencies; improving co-ordination to maximise the UK’s contribution; adopting flexible approaches and relevant impact measurement; clearly prioritising expected results, and identifying exit strategies that increase the likelihood of lasting benefits.
