DELIVERING TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE IN EASTERN-EUROPE AND RUSSIA - LESSONS FROM THE FIELD

Successful provision of sectoral technical assistance to the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union is a singular challenge because the lessons learned from years of work in developing countries are only partially applicable. This paper describes a successful housing sector assistance program in the Russian Federation and recounts several lessons that might be drawn from this experience. Among these lessons, for example, is the necessity for genuine technical experts to be in residence in the country, as opposed to those with more general skills. This, in turn, requires that the assigned task be relatively well defined before dispatching the resident advisers. Such experts are more likely to win the professional respect of their counterparts, and can provide the 'immediate' policy work that is often required.