technical assistance

Roughton strongly believes that technical assistance is vital for:

• improving project effectiveness
• developing policies
• enhancing skills
• building capacity
• institutional development

Technical assistance services offer an immense contribution to development in general. However, the natural complexity of capacity building, institutional development and policy reform makes effective technical assistance intricate and challenging. Institutional development is a long-term goal which requires long-term commitment. 

The main objective of technical assistance within the process is to build and improve capacity through development and strengthening of skills, resources and institutions.  

For investments in staff and resources to be effective, an intimate knowledge of procedures is as vital as an in-depth understanding and sensitivity to social, political and cultural factors, and their influence on project objectives.

Roughton's approach
Having been providing technical assistance services world-wide for over 60 years, Roughton is acutely aware of the factors that are necessary for a technical assistance programme to succeed, and equally those that can lead to failure.  For success, the personal attributes of the technical assistants involved are paramount.  These include not only professional and technical abilities, but also the character and attitude to interact constructively with counterpart staff, junior staff, trainees, local management, senior civil servants and government ministers.