Little engagement,not a little engagement???

Please look at the following question.

"However,public service delivery in the country faced shortcomings due to overlapping among Government's bodies,low efficiency of funds allocation,
little engagement from the non-state sector and poor supervision and evaluation,an institute survey indicated"

I couldn't understand why the writer write as " a little engagement". I think we can count the number of engagements. is my thought wrong?
I think "engagement" in the sentence means an arrangement or an appointment. Does "engagement" used in the sentence not mean that?

Thank you for your answer in advance.