What does capacity look like? How can you develop capacity bottom-up? What is the driving force behind successful capacity development? Does better capacity necessarily lead to better performance?
These are the kinds of questions that a study under ECDPM leadership is trying to answer. This study - Capacity, Change and Performance - aims at a better understanding of the relationships among these three factors and at developing practical guidance for policy makers and practitioners. The study is part of the broader workplan of the Governance Network of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Its research methodology focuses mainly on an extensive literature review and about 18 in-depth field cases which look at how capacity has developed from the perspective of those involved in the change process.
We are now in the final stage of three - preparation, research and consolidation - and hope to complete our work by the fall of 2005. In the meantime, we are pleased to provide you access to some of the initial products and hope that they will stimulate discussion. We look forward to your comments.
Click on "Platform" and "Capacity, Change and Performance" to open the sublevels in the left navigation. From here you can download the case studies (analysis), thematic papers (reflection), interim reports (synthesis), methodology, information on dates of various policy dialogues, and other publications.
Comments and Feedback page |
In 2002, the chair of the Govnet, the Network on Governance and Capacity Development of the OECD asked ECDPM in Maastricht in the Netherlands to undertake a study on how organisations and systems, mainly in developing countries, build their capacity for performance. The focus of the study was to be on the endogenous process of capacity development – the process of change from the perspective of those undergoing the change. This includes the factors that encourage it, how it differs from one context to another and why efforts to develop capacity succeed in some contexts better than in others.
The specific purposes of the study were:
to enhance understanding of the interrelationships amongst capacity, organisational change, and performance across a wide range of development experiences, and
to provide general recommendations and tools to improve the effectiveness of the design and implementation of interventions in support of improved capacities and performance.
This report is our first effort as the team working on the capacity study to pull together findings. It comes at the end of the research stage and at the beginning of the consolidation of findings but since not all the cases are completed, I would ask you to consider it preliminary. I see it as an opportunity to share with you some initial thinking, to stimulate discussion and to get feedback.
I will look forward to hearing from you and to reading your reactions.
Heather Baser
Study Leader
For a brief introduction to the study and a resumé for four of the cases undertaken, see Capacity.org, Issue 19 - October 2003
Click here to see the contact details of the Study Team |