Welcome to Capacity.org: a gateway for capacity development

Welcome to Capacity.org, a resource portal for the practice of capacity development and the home of Capacity.org journal, published two to three times a year. Building on the topics covered in the journal, this website aims to facilitate access to a broad range of related online resources that practitioners can draw on for their own work. These include the latest research findings, analytical frameworks, policy debates, practical experiences and toolkits. Through links to ongoing discussions and communities of practice, we enable practitioners to find and link up with diverse organizations, professional networks and communities of practice for further support and knowledge exchanges.

Capacity.org collaborates with the Learning Network on Capacity Development (LenCD) and the Capacity Development Network (Capacity.net) to make knowledge resources on capacity development more accessible to policymakers, researchers, development practitioners and funding organizations.

Core Topics

For a quick overview of key resources available on Capacity.org, grouped by thematic area and topic, please follow the links below. (For a full list of topics, please select ‘view all topics’) .

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Featured resource

Supporting improved livelihoods for pastoralists

Pastoralism is often depicted as an anachronistic system that cannot cope with the demands of modern development. However, practical experience reveals that pastoralism is not only capable of changing with the times, it is often the only viable livelihood option, particularly for communities living in remote, dryland environments. This collection of case studies from SNV Netherlands Development Organisation demonstrates that external support can help to strengthen pastoralists' voice in policymaking, enhance their engagement with markets and improve service provision and natural resource management in some of the most challenging environments in Africa today.

Search Terms:: sustainable development; africa; community empowerment; casestudies

More resources

Greening Development: Enhancing Capacity for Environmental Management and Governance
This new publication from OECD (February 2012) outlines a number of steps to be considered when building capacity for greening national development planning, national budgetary processes and key economic sector strategies. The report identifies the key actors to be engaged in the decision-making processes, outlines possible capacity needs and suggests how these can be addressed.
Building capacity for competitive agricultural systems and enterprises in West Africa (Video)
This film presents four examples of Agri-Business Clusters in Ghana and Togo. They illustrate the experience of entrepeneurial individuals in building small to medium scale businesses through new relationships with colleagues and so-called Agri-Business Cluster and Value Chain partners.

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To find resources that match your interests or field of expertise, use the "Advanced Search" link below to browse through more than 20 capacity development topics that we track regularly.

Issue 43 : September 2011

Voices of capacity development

Next Issue: Making markets work for small-scale farmers

With the global population expected to grow to 9 billion people by 2050, the role of small-scale agricultural producers is drawing increasing attention at the highest policy circles. Until now, much of this has focused on connecting producers to markets. But there is also growing critique of market-based development, resulting in a highly polarized debate between ‘rights-based’ and ‘ market-based’ approaches. Issue 44 of Capacity.org, to be published in April 2012, will focus on a key missing element in this debate: the role of producer agency and capacity to make effective choices in the face of powerful external interests. Bringing insights from different disciplines, the issue aims to help reshape the debate and to find solutions how markets can made to work for small scale farmers.

Capacity.org Blog

Building resilient (agro-) pastoralist systems

05 February 2012

The recent drought in the Horn of Africa was the latest of a series of recurring famines that continue to ravage parts of the continent. The crisis seemed to confirm the views of those who question the future of livelihoods in African drylands. Despite the omnipresence of (agro-) pastoralism on the continent, a dominant school of thought regards it as an 'inefficient' system that cannot cope with current market and food demands. According to this viewpoint, pastoralism should make place for modern livestock-keeping systems that are 'better equipped' to supply the demands of the current market. At best, pastoralists may just manage to survive in remote areas, but will almost certainly remain dependent on food aid. A contrasting viewpoint claims it is too early to predict the demise of (agro-) pastoralists in modern societies: there is no viable alternative for many of the drylands in which they survive. But it also misrepresents their positive contribution to the economy and to the sustainable use of land and water.

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Bringing the invisible into perspective: ECDPM call for reflection and materials on the 5Cs framework

10 January 2012

In December 2011, the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) published a synthesis report on initial practices and lessons emerging from organizations in developing countries that are using the five core capabilities (5Cs) framework to support capacity development at various levels. The reference document is intended to make these and other practical experiences more widely accessible.