Many people in the Europe and Central Asia Region are skeptical about the value of Technical Assistance (TA) provided under donor projects. Governments, for example, prefer investments in hard infrastructure as opposed to borrowing money for knowledge, since the results of knowledge are not immediately visible. In the private sector, people tend to think they already know what their problems-and solutions-are. They think the only impediment to solving their problems is lack of money
the most popular response to advice from consultants is, 'Yeah, but I know it myself.' So, how can a TA project be successful in this environment? This was the challenge for the World Bank-financed Agribusiness and Marketing Project (ABMP) in the Kyrgyz Republic. This smart lesson offers lessons learned from the experience of ABMP, which began in 2005 and is expected to close on June 30, 2012.