# **c. Technical assistance cost estimation**<sup>**17**</sup>

The key bottleneck of survey implementation in data-scarce environments is not solely lack of funding but also lack of technical capacity. Indeed, while many countries receive technical assistance from international development partners in conducting household surveys, detailed data on technical assistance expenditures are seldom available. Table 2 provides a breakdown of technical assistance expenditures across major expenditure categories (i.e. staff time, consultant expenditures, and travel and miscellaneous costs) for selected countries and their baseline (national multi-topic household surveys that were supported by the LSMS-ISA program and that are among the surveys in Table 1).

The figures are based on disaggregated expenditure records obtained from the LSMS-ISA trust fund in support of the types of technical assistance activities detailed here. For each survey, the activities spanned a 24-month period, cutting across two to three fiscal years depending on the survey period of implementation. The cross-country average for technical assistance cost per survey is USD 613,956, based on expenditures of USD 525,904 for Ethiopia ESS 2011/12, Malawi IHS3 2010/11 and Nigeria GHS-Panel 2010/11.

For defining the budget envelope for technical assistance over the period of 2016-2030, our analysis assumes an average cost of USD 540,000 (in 2014 prices) per survey to provide direct technical assistance for survey design and implementation and for the dissemination of the resulting unit-record data in an anonymized fashion (preferably within 6 months of completion of fieldwork). This is closer to the lower bound in Table 2 and is anchored primarily in the LSMS experience with providing hands-on technical assistance in 8 data-deprived settings in Africa as part of the LSMS-ISA initiative since 2008.

Assuming 12 months of fieldwork, the budget would be allocated across a 24-month period that includes a 6-month design phase, a 12-month implementation phase and a 6-month data processing, editing, analysis and dissemination phase. Table 3 provides a template for a budget of approximately USD 540,000 to finance technical assistance activities for a multi-topic household survey with field-based data entry and a resident advisor stationed in the country. The budget covers staff time, consultant expenditures, and travel and miscellaneous costs spread across a 24month period and the three distinct phases of implementation as described above.

As suggested by the World Bank Household Survey Strategy, in low-capacity, data deprived settings, the chief part of the technical assistance budget of the budget would be allocated towards

> 17 This section details the types of activities that could be financed as part of the technical assistance provided to the NSOs in data-deprived in support of the design, implementation and analysis of the household surveys of interest. The choice of the elements of the technical assistance package is anchored in the recommendations of the World Bank Household Survey Strategy. The financing arrangement for the technical assistance provision is one factor that would mediate the way in which these services are provided to the countries.

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