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Technical Assistance Facility Manual

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Strengthening Technical Assistance for Greater Development Impact

Technical assistance plays a critical role in helping companies unlock their full potential: strengthening operations, building resilience, and delivering stronger development outcomes. Yet designing and managing effective Technical Assistance Facilities (TAFs) remains complex, particularly when multiple stakeholders, funders, and objectives are involved.

Alongside British International Investment (BII) and Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF), we've released this Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) Manual, which brings together practical guidance and emerging best practices to support fund managers in structuring and implementing TA more effectively.

A TAF is designed to support, coordinate, and oversee technical assistance for portfolio companies, helping translate investment into stronger business performance and impact. The Manual Template sets out a clear operational framework—covering governance, processes, and delivery models—to ensure alignment between fund managers and funders.

The TAF Operations Manual Template offers practical, structured guidance for anyone designing or managing a TA Facility, covering everything from eligibility criteria to procurement and project cycles. Drawing on experience across funds and TA programs, the manual helps turn technical assistance into a more strategic, structured, and scalable instrument that strengthens portfolio companies while driving measurable social, environmental, and economic impact.

This Manual Template is designed as a practical tool for TAF Managers and other stakeholders involved in TAFs. It contains two main types of content:

  • Instructions: Instructions are presented in the Manual Template as the main body text. This text is supposed to be removed from the template and replaced with TAF-specific information. For instance, the instruction “Describe the fund(s) which the TAF will support.” should be replaced with details on the specific fund by the TAF Manager.
  • Guidance Notes: These offer helpful tips, best practices, and “nice-to-have” suggestions to enhance your approach. Guidance notes are presented as comment bubbles within each section for easy identification. When guidance notes appear inside tables, they are written in italics to distinguish them from standard content.

Click here to access the Manual Template and learn how to design and operationalize Technical Assistance Facilities that deliver stronger, more sustainable results.

Download the TAF Manual Template here. 

And access the Annex here.