Understanding change as politics not political will

This guide summarises some of the challenges facing development programmes, and the suggested approaches for addressing these. It is a technical guide primarily for governance focused work but will also have relevance to other sectors. The guide is for use alongside other analytical tools, including country-level institutional analysis and political economy analysis.

The evidence outlined in the guide challenges traditional development thinking that 'lack of political will' can explain many of the barriers to progress. It instead illustrates the collective action problems that may lie behind these issues, with mini-case study examples drawn from wider research.

Approaches set out in this guide also illustrate skills and knowledge relevant to the FCDO Technical Competency Framework for Governance.