Technical assistance
Technical assistance is bounded capacity-building under a defined scope. The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI) provides it to public institutions, national and regional consortiums, and development and humanitarian organizations that face a specific capability gap, such as methods, data stewardship, preparedness analysis or programme operations. Every engagement starts by fixing five things: a legitimate scope, an accountable counterpart, the data the work needs, the resources available and who holds authority for the next step. Return to GCRI programmes.
- Institution
- The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)
- Service level
- R0: information and enquiries
Workstream tracker
Technical assistance · Programme year 2
Workstreams
owner · stage · status
| National Model build | Programme owner | Test | M6 · week 18 | On track |
| Report edition planning | Programme owner | Test | M6 · week 25 | Blocked |
| Country programme formation | Programme owner | Test | M5 · week 37 | On track |
| Evidence label audit | Programme owner | Scoping | M7 · week 12 | At risk |
| Annual mission design | Independent reviewer | Scoping | M2 · week 2 | At risk |
Effort against plan
person-weeks
Milestones
- W9M1National Model build: scoping note signed
- W13M2Inputs qualified at the gate
- W24M3Report edition planning: build review
- W27M4Controlled test with observers
- W43M5Publication and decision record
GCRI · Workstream trackerWorkstream tracker, in outline: domain structure with placeholder names and illustrative values, not a record.
The short answer.
Technical assistance at GCRI is bounded capacity-building under a defined scope for public institutions, consortiums and development and humanitarian organizations facing a specific capability gap, such as methods, data stewardship, preparedness analysis or programme operations. Every engagement first fixes a legitimate sponsor, a scope, a counterpart, terms and an end, and the counterpart keeps its decisions.
Scoping to review.
Fig.A programme from scoping to the owner's decision. Design, not a record.
Systemic exposure in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Where people and networks concentrate, the exposure through which shocks travel between systems, shown for Latin America and the Caribbean as an example geography for this subject.
What is fixed before work starts.
| Condition | What it means |
|---|---|
| Legitimate scope | A problem the counterpart has the mandate to address, written down |
| Counterpart | A named counterpart with authority over the scope and staff to be trained |
| Data | The data the work needs, under a rights schedule and the privacy notice |
| Resources | Staff time and any cost, set in written terms under GCRI's not-for-profit model |
| Next-step authority | Who decides what happens to the result, and how the handoff works |
What a counterpart receives.
Domain work brief
The agreed question, evidence requirements and review and receiver responsibilities.
Supervised products
Work products built with the counterpart's team, with training where agreed.
Reviewed handoff
A handoff to the institution that decides, with limits stated beside findings.
What technical assistance is not.
- It is not procurement, financing or execution authority.
- National adoption of any result is a separate decision of the competent authority.
- A decision not to proceed is recorded with its reasons; participants may withdraw under agreed exit conditions.
How an engagement runs.
- 01
Enquiry
You write to the Secretariat or a regional desk and receive a reference.
- 02
Scoping
The question, counterpart, data and next-step authority are agreed.
- 03
Terms
A written agreement with the correct parties, scope, rights, cost and exit conditions, once service capacity exists.
- 04
Work and review
Work is done in Nexus Foundry and reviewed on method.
- 05
Handoff
The product passes to the institution that decides.
Terms used on this page.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Technical assistance | Non-financial support such as expertise, training, advice on methods and help with institutional systems, provided at the request of the institution that owns the work. |
| Capacity development | The process by which people, organisations and societies strengthen their ability to manage their affairs, in OECD DAC usage. |
| Terms of reference | The document that defines an assignment's objectives, scope, deliverables, counterpart, acceptance criteria and reserved decisions. |
| Country ownership | The principle that a country leads its own development policies and strategies and coordinates the actions that support them, set out in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. |
How to start.
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. Write to the Secretariat at contact@therisk.global; the acknowledgement gives a reference and names the next step, normally a scoping conversation. Governments can also start from Governments and public institutions, and expert matching is described on Experts and technical support. Finance-readiness support is led by The Global Risks Alliance (GRA); see Finance and insurance readiness.
Questions and answers.
How much does technical assistance cost?
Which organization signs the agreement?
Can assistance include managing a project for us?
Around GCRI.
Start with an enquiry.
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.