Funding universal service and access projects: from strategy to impact

C.1     Introduction and context

Public funding is limited. It must be used strategically in order to achieve broad national objectives, and get the desired return on social, economic and financial investment. Public funding must avoid:

• badly designed projects that are not properly scoped and not able to move from pilot to scale;
• badly timed projects due to a lack of proper planning and consequent delays to completion;
• projects which do not meet local needs or which have no local buy-in;
• politically influenced projects that are not targeted at the right population group or areas;
• unsustainable projects which require repeat or constant funding;
• projects with significant cost overruns.

This section discusses and provides tools related to project selection and implementation. It is important that all projects that are selected are:

• eligible for funding, i.e. meet the funding criteria and principles;
• sustainable and aligned with national strategic objectives;
• evidence driven, i.e. based on quality and rigorous research and data;
• transparently selected;
• properly governed and managed, as discussed in this section;
• supported by relevant partners and stakeholders, as discussed in this section;
• properly planned and executed, as discussed in this section.