Presentation made during the second International TOSSD Task Force meeting in Costa Rica, 6-7 December 2017. http://www.oecd.org/dac/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-standards/tossd-task-force.htm

1. 1
San José, Costa Rica
6-7 December 2017
2nd TOSSD TASK FORCE MEETING
Item 8. Options for measuring technical co-operation

2. Outline
• Discussions during the 1st Task Force Meeting
• Estimating the monetary value of technical co-
operation
• Non monetary aspects of TC (value added)

3. I. Discussions during 1st Task Force meeting:
• No consensus
– Some defended use of purchasing power parity (PPP)
– Others: depending on situation (hiring process)
– Further analysis necessary

4. II. Estimating the monetary value of technical co-
operation
• Identified need to include quantitative aspects, including
cost estimates
• Implications of tendering process
– OECD recommends that when experts are hired externally and
internationally (through an international tender process or
directly hired but paid in international currencies) the price of the
contract is recorded in TOSSD
• In-kind technical co-operation
– Option 1: measure the opportunity cost, apply PPP factor
– Option 2: use an international wage table that monetises
technical co-operation provided by experts with equivalent level
of experience.
Average daily
wage
X days

5. As of 1st January 2017
II. Estimating the monetary value of technical co-
operation
UN professional staff salary table

6. II. Estimating the monetary value of technical co-
operation
Purchasing power parity (PPP) factors in practice
• PPP factors estimated through the International Comparison
Program (ICP) of the World Bank.
• Examples of use: SDG and MDG frameworks, Human
Development Index, Poverty rates.
Timeliness
• Most recent ICP program released in 2014 (reference year
2011).
• WB releases yearly PPP figures
– extrapolating from the 2011 program benchmark estimates; or
– imputing through a statistical model
– for 47 countries, conversion factors provided by OECD and Eurostat.

7. A comparative analysis: sending 50 medical doctors
Recommendation
The OECD would recommend option 2, using international wage tables.
This accounts the same amount of money for the same type of
resource provided, regardless of the country providing the experts.
Costs Cuba France Argentina
Daily salary per doctor (National Currencies (*)) 1 150 60
Total cost national currencies (*) 1,000 225,000 90,411
Total cost USD 1,000 248,894 6,126
Total cost PPP 280,025 9,810
Total cost UN salary (7 years) 414,198 414,198 414,198
* USD, Euro and Argentinan pesos
II. Estimating the monetary value of technical co-
operation

8. Issues for discussion
• Do you agree that the treatment of technical co-operation should be linked
to the hiring process (international vs. national)?
• What is your preferred option for estimating the monetary cost of providing
in-kind technical co-operation?
• Option 1: measuring the opportunity costs and applying PPP factors
• Option 2: International wage table
II. Estimating the monetary value of technical co-
operation

9. III. Non-monetary aspects of technical co-
operation
• Non-monetary aspects could be collected e.g.
number of experts deployed or number of days of
the TC intervention.
• Indicators of the value-added of TC could be added
to complement the monetary information.

10. III. Non-monetary aspects of technical co-
operation
Indicators on outcomes and/or impact:
• How many professionals were trained (if any)?
• Was/were the topics of intervention identified as development constraints or opportunities in
the country strategies (whether at national, regional or local level)?
• What outputs/outcomes were foreseen in the log-frame or the documentation of the TC
activity?
• Were the outputs generated by the TC (technical co-operation) used to: (i) inform new
government policy or programme? (ii) Inform new legislation or regulation? (iii) Create, change
or improve institutions? (iv) Support design or implementation of development co-operation
projects? (v) Other (specify)?
Indicators for ownership
• Who initiated/requested this TC activity?
• Was the beneficiary agency actively involved throughout the implementation of the TC activity?
• Was the TC activity co-financed by the beneficiary?
Indicators for sustainability
• How are the results of the TC activity expected to be sustained after its completion?
• Does the TC activity encourage the transfer of successful experiences?

11. III. Non-monetary aspects of technical co-
operation
Issues for discussion
• Do you agree that qualitative information on technical co-operation should
also be provided by reporters to complement quantitative information in the
TOSSD framework?
• If so, which of the suggested qualitative aspects set out above might TOSSD
capture? Do you have additional suggestions?

12. Thank you!