CAPACITY → RESULTS

November 2011
This new publication from the Learning Network on Capacity Development (LenCD) features case stories on capacity development and development results. The collection showcases how endogenous investments in capacity development have led, over time, to produce short, medium and long-term sustainable results. More

A partnership for pastoralists

October 2010
A partnership for pastoralists Formed in May 2004, the Strategic Alliance Partnership has united local and external agencies working in the Afar region. The coalition has achieved notable successes in improving health and education services for pastoralist communities. More

Kenya: Development organizations join hands to safeguard education capacity

November 2010
The Post- election 2007 violence that flared up in most parts of the country mainly affected Rift Valley, Nyanza, Nairobi and Coast Provinces. North Rift Region was hard hit with Uasin Gishu district bearing the brunt in terms of the displaced. Out of the approximately 300,000 people displaced country-wide 74,051 are currently taking shelter in 47 camps in the North Rift. More

Ownership matters

October 2010
After more than 17 years of internal conflict, Mozambique was littered with thousands of landmines. This article describes how locally recruited deminers contributed to local ownership and the state’s legitimacy. More

Rebuilding Liberia

October 2010
The Liberian government faces the challenge of stabilising and rebuilding the nation after two civil wars. Capacity.org interviewed Dr Toga McIntosh, Liberia’s Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs. More

Strengthening local governance: The case of TEHIP (Tanzania)

November 2010
The goal of the Tanzania Essential Health Interventions Project (TEHIP) is to determine the feasibility of an "evidence-based" approach to health planning - an approach whereby decisions on how to allocate scarce health care resources are made based on information obtained locally - and measure its impact. More

Trust is an essential ingredient

October 2010
Ousmane Oumarou Sidibé has been given no mean assignment. He is responsible for reforming the entire system of governance in Mali. His aim is, first and foremost, to make government more client-oriented. At all levels. Ousmane Sidibé argues that the key to achieving that goal is a major shift in attitude. Such a shift can’t be forced. Civil servants will have to be convinced, one at a time, that it is in their own interest. It can be done, he tells Evelijne Bruning, but it will take time, and a lot of money. More

Capacity development knowledge fair: case studies now online

November 2010
All 175 case stories, 50 videos and 90 images submitted for the 'Capacity is Development' Knowledge Fair in 2010 are available online. The top 30 Finalists in the case story category and 10 Top Finalists from the video category were determined by a panel of 18 judges in a process coordinated by the UNDP Capacity Development Group, the Learning Network on Capacity Development (LenCD) and Impact Alliance. The cases showcase policies, investments and programmes that have proven successful in driving human and institutional capacity development in diverse settings around the world. Out of the Finalists, five outstanding entries were selected for personal representation at the upcoming Global Event in Marrakech. Visit website More

Facilitating WASH forums

December 2010
Multi-stakeholder partnerships on water, sanitation and hygiene in Africa Clean water and basic sanitation are among the most powerful drivers for human development. The crisis in water and sanitation is a crisis mainly for the poor, with some two-thirds of those lacking access to clean water living on less than US$2 a day. More

Mutual transparency: the antidote to many don’ts

October 2010
Mutual transparency: the antidote to many don’ts Values and ideas about appropriate behaviour have become part of the organisational culture at the Community Development Resource Association. But living up to these standards is a constant challenge. More

Effective behaviour through genuine interactions

October 2010
By ‘de-tooling’ interactions, focusing on intentions and reflecting on their behaviour and its outcomes, facilitators can strengthen their own capacities to help communities address the many challenges they face. More

Exploring a diagonal approach

May 2011
Integrating antiretroviral treatment into primary health care Programmes aimed at fighting single diseases have helped many, but they have also weakened public health systems. This does not have to be the case. Individual disease programmes can help to develop the capacity of primary health care systems. More

SNV Practices - Developing capacities in Rwanda

June 2011
The entry point of this collection of experiences by practitioners working with SNV-Netherlands Development Organisation in Rwanda is that to effectively strengthen the capacity of local organisations for economic and social development requires a multi-faceted approach that covers social, psychological, technical, managerial, entrepreneurial, and governance capacity needs. The booklet explores diverse capacity building experiences and interventions covering the agricultural production, education, renewable energy, tourism, and the water, sanitation and hygiene sectors. More

Resisting "vertical programming": The case of Lacor hospital in Northern Uganda

June 2011
In Northern Uganda, a region that has been scarred by decades of conflict, there is only one doctor for every 25,000 persons. Before 2003, Lacor Mission Hospital in Gulu was among a handful of health care institutions serving an extremely vast area. The devastating conflict had also forced thousands of local residents - along with hospital staff - to seek shelter within the hospital compound. Dominique Corti, describes how the management struggled to offer a full range of health services at a time when almost all external support was earmarked to combating AIDS. More

Lacor hospital’s approach to the vertical funding dilemma

September 2011
Letter to the editor The topics ‘strengthening health systems’ and ‘vertical programming’ addressed in issue 42 of Capacity.org struck a chord with us at St Mary’s Hospital in Lacor, Northern Uganda. Lacor Hospital is a general referral hospital that focuses on diseases that are prevalent in the region it serves – mostly tropical and infectious diseases such as malaria, pneumonia, tuberculosis, intestinal parasites, etc. More

Local capacity development case studies

November 2010
Local capacity development case studies SNV-Netherlands Development Organisation has documented a large number of case studies on experiences in building community capacity across a range of development sectors. More

Strengthening accountability: can civil society have an impact?

October 2010
Public spending: Holding governments accountable Ten years ago a small number of civil society organizations began experimenting with methods to monitor and influence government budget policies and expenditures. Have these initiatives had an impact? More

Does 'best practice' equal 'best outcome'? Mozambique study illustrates challenges of donor harmonization

November 2010
In terms of donor coordination, Mozambique is widely considered a success story. In particular, it is cited as a prime example of good practice in terms of harmonizing, aligning, and managing aid in accordance with the Paris Declaration. More

First Joint Governance Assessment in Rwanda

February 2009
Policy Practice Brief 5 - Carrying out a Joint Governance Assessment - Lessons from Rwanda More

Independent monitoring

October 2010
Country-based monitoring instruments can promote mutual accountability between government and development partners. In Tanzania, independent monitoring has contributed to a ‘levelling of the playing field’, resulting in improved national leadership, greater trust and increased aid effectiveness. More

Ownership matters: The case of Mozambique

November 2010
The involvement of 400 demobilized ex-combatants was critical in repatriating displaced populations and rebuilding rural communities in Mozambique More

Strengthening country procurement sytems in Bangladesh: 2 case studies

July 2010
At the Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in September 2008, donors agreed to use country systems as the first option for aid programmes in support of activities managed by the public sector. These two UNDP case studies describe how this works in practice in Bangladesh. The first case study: 'Towards use of country systems for procurement in Bangladesh', analyses the challenges of assessing capacity at the national level as a first step towards aligning national procurement systems. The second study highlights a promising community-level initiative to enhance local monitoring of Millenium Development Goal-related project procurement. More

Transforming financial services

October 2010
The microfinance sector in Uganda reached a critical point in the late 1990s. A transformation was needed to ensure its sustainability. Since no donor could go it alone, the transformation became a collaborative effort. More

Applying the Paris Declaration in fragile and conflict-affected situations

November 2010
This report synthesizes existing evidence on aid-effectiveness and state-building challenges faced in fragile and conflict-affected situations. More

Children in emergencies: improving response programmes

November 2010
This INTRAC practice note discusses a capacity building initiative to create a global register of skilled staff available for deployment to emergency situations worldwide. More

Civil society and conflict transformation

November 2010
The paper analyses experiences in promoting peace building in intractable conflicts, focusing on civil society initiatives in Abkhazia, Israel/Palestine, Nagorno-Karabakh, Transnistria and Western Sahara. More

Credible elections in Sierra Leone

October 2010
Civil society organisations have a very important contribution to make in the process of transforming fragile states into peaceful and stable nations. Frances Fortune and Ambrose James describe the experiences of Sierra Leone during past elections. More

Parallel service delivery in a fragile state

October 2010
During Haiti’s 200 years of independence it has remained an extremely weak state, characterised by the absence of functional institutions. Recent political developments raise the issue of the impact of parallel service delivery on the emerging state structure. More

Reconstructing a fragile state

November 2010
This Asian Development Bank report highlights the results of a regional study to help guide future capacity building efforts in the Pacific region More

Linking technical capacity building to women’s empowerment: The Feminist Tech Exchange

November 2010
The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) Forum is the largest recurring event of its kind in the women’s movement, bringing together women’s rights leaders and activists from around the world every three years to strategize and learn. More

Video: Impact of gender budgets in Bolivia and Morocco

November 2010
The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has developed videos on the impact of gender sensitive budgets in Bolivia and Morocco in collaboration with local organizations. More

Project GLOBE - Understanding cultures and implicit leadership theories across the globe

November 2010
This paper offers a brief introduction to project GLOBE, which is the acronym for “Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness,” a 61-nation, 11-year study involving 170 researchers worldwide. The project examined national cultures to show that societal and organizational culture influences the kind of leadership found to be acceptable and effective by people within that culture. More

Nurturing local capacity builders

October 2010
The future of local capacity building in Africa lies in higher education. After years of neglect, the need to strengthen universities is at last moving up the policy agenda. More

Promoting institutional and organizational development

November 2010
The purpose of these DFID guidelines is to help you distinguish between the institutional and the organizational level, to identify institutional problems that inhibit improvements at the organizational level, and to work out how to promote the necessary changes at both levels. Though based on DFID experiences, they are sufficiently general to be of interest also to others. More

Strengthening entrepreneurship capacity in rural communities

November 2009
An article published in the Journal of Extension, describes a potential model for programmes that are looking for effective strategies to support and enhance community-based entrepreneurship More

Building trust, changing behaviour

October 2010
Building trust between facilitators and learners is essential in capacity development. Leng Chhay, a CD practitioner with many years of experience in Cambodia, looks at how this trust can be established. More

The Moshi dialogue

October 2010
The Moshi dialogue In November 2009, the East African Support Unit for NGOs (EASUN) and PSO, an association of Dutch NGOs, organised a conference in Moshi, Tanzania, that brought together 36 NGOs from the North and the South. More

South African municipality scores for learning-based approach on water and sanitation

March 2011
The eThekwini Municipality in Durban, South Africa, is one of the two global recipients of the 2011 UN "Water for Life" Best Practices Award. The local authority was commended for its innovative approach to communication and awareness raising and its outstanding contribution to addressing key challenges related to water and sanitation in an urban area. More

To Know is to be empowered

October 2010
To Know is to be empowered If you want to effectively tackle gender inequality, you need to be able to measure it and identify its underlying causes. Putting local governments in the know is half the battle. More

A Magic Bullet For Gender Equality?

November 2010
A Magic Bullet For Gender Equality? Successful decentralisation should make government more accessible, accountable and responsive to women. But does it? Have decentralisation processes increased women’s decision-making power at the local level? More

A matter of political will

November 2010
As the level of government closest to citizens, local authorities can play a vital role in addressing gender inequality and in building the capacities of women by involving them in local decision making, planning and management. The importance of that role was recognised by the International Union of Local Authorities and in the 1998 Worldwide Declaration on Women in Local Government. Earlier, increasing the participation of women in politics and decision making was a central theme of the Beijing Platform for Action (1995). This was reaffirmed in 2000 in the third Millennium Development Goal, to ‘promote gender equality and empower women’. More

Capacity for effective participation

November 2010
Capacity for effective participation Affirmative action measures aimed at enhancing women’s participation as political representatives in decentralised government bodies is a growing field of research and development practice. Several issues need to be addressed first, however, to realise these goals. More

Preserve status quo or promote gender equality?

November 2010
Preserve status quo or promote gender equality? Women’s rights activists and gender and development practitioners have high hopes for local government as an arena for promoting gender equality and respecting women’s human rights. However, gender equality can only be achieved through radical structural change. More

Theory of Change: A thinking and action approach to navigate in the complexity of social change processes

May 2011
Jointly published by Hivos and UNDP, this guide synthesizes the core of the methodological contents and steps that are developed in a Theory of Change design workshop. It is aimed at the rich constellation of actors linked to processes of social development and change: bilateral donors, community leaders, political and social leaders, NGO’s representatives, community-base organizations, social movements, public decision makers, and other actors related to social change processes. More

Case study: Applying the Paris Declaration to Zambia's health sector

May 2011
Earmarked and vertical funds are often at odds with commitments to strengthen health systems. Can such funding be tweaked to prevent a negative impact on health systems? More

Case study: Strengthening district health systems in Karamoja

May 2011
Inside the district health system In Karamoja in northern Uganda, many children do not live to see their fifth birthday. In an initiative to improve child survival, Doctors with Africa, Cuamm has formed a partnership with UNICEF to strengthen Karamoja’s district health systems. More

Case study: Diabetes, Cambodia's silent killer

May 2011
Accessible care for diabetes in Cambodia In Cambodia, diabetes is a devastating disease. Expensive clinical care is accessible only to the urban rich, while the poor remain untreated and die. The Cambodian organisation, MoPoTsyo, has an innovative solution that has already saved many lives. More

Embedding ICT in development

October 2010
How can Information and Communication Technology (ICT) support development efforts? ICT cuts across sectors and affects all layers of society; it is used by both micro-projects and large institutions. This issue of Capacity.org explores some of the practical approaches taken by a range of support organizations working to build ICT capacities. More

Enhancing the development effectiveness of health systems funding

August 2011
Established in 2009, the Health Systems Funding Platform is one of the latest initiatives to improve coordination amongst the numerous external funding organizations working to support health care institutions in developing countries. It has advanced farthest in two countries, Ethiopia and Nepal, and is currently expanding to several others. A new Working Paper from the Center for Global Development analyses the role of the Platform as a case study of how to resolve tensions between the aid and development effectiveness agendas. More

A practitioners guide to results-oriented capacity development

September 2011
Capacity development is usually marketed as a ‘process of change’. However, there is little point to change for the sake of change. Results-Oriented Capacity Development. A Practitioner's Guide for Leaders of Organizations and Development Managers, published in August 2010 by the Austral Foundation, offers a simple and practical approach to leaders, programme designers and managers, advisers and facilitators for implementing a results-based approach to capacity devleopment. More

Interview: A well respected voice

September 2011
Betty Maina, Executive director, Kenya Association of Manufacturers Fostering a beneficial business environment in Kenya The Kenya Association of Manufacturers has tackled a very challenging political system to bring about a more favourable business environment. More

Interview: Less teaching more learning

September 2011
Sombath Somphone, Director of the Participatory Development Training Centre, Laos Innovative education in Laos PADETC, the Participatory Development Training Centre, introduces active approaches to learning in Laos, where education is still based on a passive and traditional one-way-transfer of knowledge from teacher to students. More

Guest Column: Avoid the failure trap

September 2011
Peter Malinga, Coordinator of technical services at the Government of Rwanda Public Sector Capacity Building Secretariat (PSCBS) Not all technical assistance is capacity-development support Every year, members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) contribute some $25 billion to developing countries, much of which is aimed at delivering what is increasingly being referred to as ‘capacity development’. However, many of these interventions do not demonstrate any clear evidence that they are having the desired impact. More

In and above Conflict - A study on Leadership in the United Nations

October 2011
Peace is seldom concluded when a peace deal is signed. The principal external role in consolidating peace frequently falls to United Nations (UN) missions and agencies. Their ability to achieve this task is contingent on many factors including resources and cohesive international political support. It depends most critically on effective leadership. What are the unique, defining challenges to UN leadership in conflict and post conflict environments? How have effective UN leaders approached these challenges? More

SNV Practice Brief: Supporting domestic accountability

November 2011
Accountability can be an abstract concept, but it comes alive for ordinary citizens if it involves looking at whether (and how) funding for services is distributed and spent at the local level. This Practice Brief is the first of a new series prepared by practitioners working with the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation. It helps to shed some light on what support organisations can do to amplify the voice of local stakeholders in demanding greater accountability from governments and service providers. More

Learning to evaluate capacity development: The making of 'Facilitating resourcefulness'

November 2011
This article is a supplement to Issue 43 of Capacity.org. It takes a look behind the scenes of an extensive evaluation of 26 case studies covering the support to capacity development of seven Dutch Development Partners under the coordination and partial responsibility of the Policy and Operations Evaluation Department (IOB) of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign affairs. The evaluation aimed to draw lessons on how to improve the effectiveness of future capacity development interventions. More

Empowerment: A journey not a destination

January 2012
The DFID-funded Pathways of Women’s Empowerment Programme launched a synthesis report based on the findings and recommendations from five years of research in London on 13th January. The report, entitled 'Empowerment: A Journey not a Destination' draws on the collective works of 60 academic-activists in 12 countries on four continents. With six companion policy papers and case studies, the publication shares the latest learning and analysis on what works to enhance women’s empowerment in different parts of the world. More

Greening Development: Enhancing Capacity for Environmental Management and Governance

February 2012
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. More

Using case studies in development evaluation: Validity, Generalisation and Learning

December 2011
Dates: 21-23 May, 2012 Type of event: International workshop Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Organization: Centre for Social Science Development Research University of Copenhagen and the Evaluation Department of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abstracts are invited for this international workshop, which will focus on methodological and practical considerations when using case studies in evaluations of development. The workshop will be organised in collaboration with the journal Evaluation:the international journal of theory, research and practice. The deadline for submitting abstracts is 15 December 2011 . More

Dealing with complexity through Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation (Praxis Paper 26)

March 2012
Published by INTRAC in February 2012, this paper shares initial findings from an ongoing action research project, involving nine Dutch and one Belgian international development organisation, in collaboration with their Southern partners. The objective of the project is to explore if and how more ‘complexity oriented’ Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) approaches can help them to deal with diverse challenges that they encounter in their day-to-day practice. More

Learning about accountability from CARE Peru’s earthquake response

November 2010
Qualitative monitoring and listening to communities was a key part of CARE Peru’s response to the devastating earthquake of August 2007. More

Poverty Action Network Ethiopia

October 2010
The Poverty Action Network Ethiopia has enabled civil society to engage in the PRSP process. This article explains how the network has grown, in spite of the lack of experience of its members, and the difficult political environment. More

Follow the money: supporting communities to speak out

October 2010
Public expenditure tracking in Tanzania How does a population renowned for its tolerance and acceptance of authority learn to demand acco untability from its leaders? Can autocratic leaders redefine themselves as public servants? An interesting social experiment is underway in Tanzania. More

Capacity building in humanitarian crises

November 2010
This INTRAC Praxis Note published in June 2010 , analyses five years of support to capacity development of civil society organizations in humanitarian crises, drawing on the experiences of members of the Dutch network, PSO. More

Coordinating support for refugees

October 2010
The refugee camps near Kasulu, Tanzania, offer sanctuary for many thousands of people fleeing conflicts in neighbouring countries. For the relief agencies and NGOs that provide shelter and basic services, good communications are essential. More

Private sector development in conflict situations

November 2010
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has commissioned a project for the design of innovative tools for private sector development to be incorporated in the assistance programmes of partner countries. More

Responding to the tsunami

October 2010
The Asian tsunami of December 2004 provided an opportunity to explore innovative approaches to improve service delivery. Arun Kashyap describes how a public–private partnership has assisted communities across the region to build better water and sanitation systems. More

A life with dignity: Building women’s capacity to improve labour standards

November 2010
This paper shows how Colectiva de Mujeres Hondureñas (CODEMUH), a grassroots women's collective in Honduras, mobilized a popular movement around labour rights in the country's textile factories, or maquilas. More

Revealing Health Spending Research in India and Kenya

November 2010
This is one of several civil society initiatives highlighted in the 48th issue (May-June 2009) of the International Budget Partnership e-newsletter. More

From clients to citizens

November 2010
What are the common factors that help communities mobilize? Do outside organizations have a role to play when communities take charge of their own development? More

Civil society organisations and legislators

October 2010
In promoting evidence-based policy in developing countries, the links between civil society organisations and legislators in the research-policy-practice interface have been insufficiently studied. More

No more consultants: we know more than we think

November 2010
We have all smiled at the apocryphal tale of the consultant who borrows your watch to tell you the time, and then walks off with your watch! This book by Geoff Parcell and Chris Collison aims to equip readers with the tools to tap into the capabilities of the organization that already exist but are as yet, inaccessible. More

The power of understanding power

October 2010
Analysing power relations is important for understanding the contexts in which decisions about capacity development are made. There is a lot more to power than the simple struggle between those who have it and those who don’t . A more comprehensive view of power can ensure that it is used in a more strategic way More

Legitimacy enhances capacity

November 2010
Legitimacy enhances capacity Do affirmative action and training of women politicians lead to effective voice and change on issues that are relevant for women? More

The role of ICTs in empowering rural Indian women

April 2011
This paper reviews a range of initiatives to bridge the digital gap in India, exploring in particular the role of ICTs in empowering Indian rural women. The paper concludes that, while most of the ICT initiatives are disseminating useful new information and knowledge, many women are not able to make use of it due to lack of access to complementary sources of support and services. More

Rebuilding local governance structures in Afghanistan – a long walk

April 2011
This case study on efforts to build sub-national governance institutions in Afghanistan illustrates the challenges of implementing decentralization programmes in a post-conflict setting. The focus of the UNDP-supported National Area-Based Development Programme (NABDP) is to transform informal local Shuras (committees) into Community Development Councils and higher-level District Development Assemblies (DDAs). The reality, however, is that the newly elected local representatives face an uphill battle to achieve widespread acceptance as legitimate interlocutors of local development. More

Strengthening the role of civil society in conflict and post-conflict settings

May 2011
Against the backdrop of popular protests across the Middle East and North Africa region, the May 2011 issue of ONTRAC, a newsletter of the International NGO Training and Research Centre (INTRAC), explores the role that civil society can play in promoting social development and bridging divides. Drawing on lessons from diverse contexts, including Kyrgyzstan, Cyprus and Somaliland, the articles analyse how civil society can contribute to building trust and reconciliation, maintaining peace and security, and rebuilding indigenous institutions for sustainable development and more democratic governance. More

Women's leadership and participation

June 2011
Hoare, Joanna and Gell, Fiona, Practical Action Publishing, 2009 Women are often denied the right to participate in decision-making, whether as active citizens, or as leaders. In particular, women living in poverty often have little opportunity to influence decisions and policies that will have a direct impact on the welfare of themselves, their communities, and their livelihoods. This book brings together lessons and experience in building up womens involvement from Oxfam GB and its partners. More

About "Theory U": Resources from the Society of Organizational Learning

January 2011
In Theory U: Leading from the future as it emerges (SoL, 2007), C. Otto Scharmer expounds on the theoretical foundations of what he calls "the social technology of precensing". Presencing is a blend of the words "presence" and "sensing", and is defined as "the ability to sense and bring into the present one's highest future potential—as an individual and as a group". Theory U is presented as a new territory of scientific research and personal leadership, one that is grounded in real life experience and shared practices. Otto Scharmer invites us to see the world in new ways by learning to become aware of our "blind spot", by sharing from his own personal and professional development. The final chapters lay out principles and practices that allow everyone to "participate fully in co-creating and bringing forth the desired future that is working to emerge through us". More

Changing minds: A guide to facilitated participatory planning

August 2011
This book draws on the work of thinkers and doers throughout the world who have grappled with the challenge of planning complex institutions, especially health systems and development projects. Their problem: Conventional planning methods often do not work. The solution: Involve all the key stakeholders in making the plan. The challenge: Devise a planning system that the principals and stakeholders can trust, and that is inclusive, balanced, and dynamic. More

Assessing leadership capacity needs for building a knowledge society in Africa

September 2011
GESCI, Founded by the UN ICT Task Force, in partnership with the African Union have released four country reports and a synthesis document that assess the environmental, institutional and individual leadership capacity needs for the transition towards a knowledge society in Africa. The study was carried out in Zambia, Tanzania, Mauritius and South Africa as part of the Africa Leadership in ICT (ALICT) programme. More

Interview: Changing the sanitation mindset

September 2011
Abadh Kishore Mishra, Regional director, Regional Monitoring and Supervision Office of the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage in Surkhet, Nepal Water and sanitation in Nepal’s Midwestern Region In the past, efforts to improve access to sanitation in Nepal’s Midwestern Development Region were hampered by fragmentation and by the rigid mindset of some development agencies. This changed when the country’s Regional Monitoring and Supervision Office at the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage stepped in. More

Interview: Caring into the future

September 2011
Paul Banda, Director of the Environment Council of Zambia Enforcing compliance with Zambia’s environment laws Over the years, the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) has developed its capacity to enforce environmental laws and advise the government on how to manage the country’s environment and natural resources. More

Facilitating resourcefulness: Synthesis evaluation report of Dutch support for capacity development published

August 2011
A long-awaited evaluation report of Dutch support for capacity development carried out by the Policy and Operations Evaluation Department (IOB) of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been published. The report synthesizes the findings of seven separate evaluations carried out since 2008, and covering 26 individual case studies. The evaluation is the result of collaboration between IOB and six Dutch NGOs (Agriterra, Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment, Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, Partos, PSO, SNV) and the Ghana Ministry of Health. More

Building nonprofit capacity

January 2012
This book uses the organisational lifecycle framework to help the nonprofit sector and its leaders figure out how to effectively shepherd a change process in their organization. The book is based on research by the TCC Group, a New York based consultancy, in the area of organizational effectiveness studies. It also includesd results from the core capacity assessment tool (CCAT) - a 146-question online survey that measures a nonprofit organization's effectiveness in relation to four core capacities - leadership, adaptability, management, and technical capacities - as well as organizational culture. More

Setting-up multi-stakeholder processes and platforms in sub-Saharan Africa (Video)

March 2012
This trailer (six minutes) introduces a new 52-minute film that presents the step-wise setting up of Multi-Stakeholder Processes and Platform (MSPs) in inland valleys in sub-Saharan Africa. The film portrays how participatory action research is used to refine and adapt the MSP methodology during the course of the set-up. The main part of the film shows the efforts of the different stakeholders and also the results: better understanding, collaboration, capacity strengthening and changes on the socio-economic, organizational and institutional levels. The film is available in both English and French. More

Local governance self assessment: guidelines for facilitators

November 2010
This local governance self-assessment tool for community facilitators is based on experiences in Bangladesh. More

UNIFEM Resources on Women, Peace and Security

November 2010
UNIFEM Resources on Women, Peace and Security This collection of UNIFEM (part of UN Women) papers published in 2010 brings together a considerable body of analytical and advocacy work undertaken over the last five years, grounded in programming that has helped advance the women, peace and security agenda in policy and practice. More

INTRAC, PSO & PRIA 7th Evaluation Conference Monitoring and evaluation: new developments and challenges

May 2011
Dates: 14-16 June 2011 Type of event: conference Location: The Netherlands Organizer: INTRAC, PSO and PRIAs This international conference will examine key elements and challenges confronting the evaluation of international development, including its funding, practice and future. The main themes will include: governance and accountability; impact; M&E in complex contexts of social change; the M&E of advocacy; M&E of capacity building; programme evaluation in an era of results-based management; M&E of humanitarian programmes; the design of M&E systems; evaluating networks, including community driven networks; changing theories of change and how this relates to M&E methods and approaches. More

Evaluation in Africa – can and should it be more influential? (E-discussion)

October 2012
This is the final topic in a series of moderated e-discussions on " Thought Leaders in Development and Evaluation." Co-facilitated by the African Evaluation Association (AfrEA) and the CLEAR initiative, South Africa, the purpose of the forum is to give impetus to efforts to develop original and influential African contributions that can strengthen evaluation theory and practice on the continent and worldwide. It will also help position the AfrEA "Made in Africa Approach to Evaluation" initiative by focusing on how evaluation can be shaped by Africa-rooted and driven approaches. The e-discussions will feed into a strategic meeting on the future of development and evaluation in Africa to hosted by the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center in Italy in November. More

Accountability builds legitimate government

October 2010
Strengthening the accountability of government officials to their constituents provides an important impetus to boosting their capacity to govern effectively. However, as examples from Iraq and Indonesia show, the legitimacy of the government is an important criterion for success. More

Citizen report cards score in India

October 2010
Monitoring public service delivery After more than a decade of monitoring by civil society organizations, the city of Bangalore in southern India has made progress in improving the quality and cost-effectiveness of its public services. More

Speaking Out: How the voices of poor people are shaping the future

November 2010
This set of papers bring together experiences, lessons, and good practice from Oxfam GB and its partners’ global programme work on the theme of ‘the right to be heard’. More

Democratic processes in governance and peacebuilding

November 2010
IDRC Canada is supporting case studies in eight countries examining the links between poverty reduction, risk mitigation and democratization. More

People Building Peace: Successful stories of civil society

November 2010
This collection of stories by the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict comes in both a print edition and an online edition, and aims to show how civil society has made a difference in conflict areas around the world. More

Case studies: Multi-actor systems as entry points to capacity development

December 2010
The following case studies from Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya provide some real-life experiences of how multi-actor capacity development takes place. More

From token inclusion to transformative engagement

December 2010
Urban planning in India Although labelled ‘participatory’, many urban planning processes in India involve only select elite groups. This article explains what is required to achieve genuine participation involving all stakeholders, including the poor and the marginalised. More

Multi-stakeholder learning partnerships in support of small-scale farming

January 2011
The December 2010 issue of "Farming Matters", a quarterly magazine published by the Centre for learning on sustainable agriculture (ILEIA) addresses the theme of "Partnerships for learning." Some questions raised in this issue include: what do the many different people and organizations labelled as "stakeholders" in small-scale family farming learn from each other? How do they learn to work together to create more sustainable agriculture? What drives them to collaborate? More

Multi-actor systems as entry points to capacity development

December 2010
Reasons for a revision of intervention logic It is often assumed that capacity development starts from within individuals and organisations and then permeates into society. But capacity also comes about through interaction between actors. This suggests that a change in intervention logic and repertoire can boost effectiveness. More

HIV/AIDS: organisational impacts and painful realities

October 2010
HIV/AIDS is having an immense impact on the internal capacities of many civil society organisations in sub-Saharan Africa. INTRAC’s Praxis programme is supporting the documentation of emerging experiences and discussion of appropriate responses. More

Involving communities

October 2010
Agencies and national governments are increasingly involving local communities when developing water and sanitation systems. Despite this, the functionality of systems in East and Southern Africa remain weak. More

Review of Impact and Effectiveness of Transparency and Accountability Initiatives, Institute of Development Studies (2010)

January 2011
As traditional forms of state-led accountability have been increasingly found to be inadequate, thousands of multi-stakeholder and citizen-led approaches have come to the fore, to supplement or supplant them. Despite their rapid growth, and the growing donor support they receive, little attention has been paid to the impact and effectiveness of these new transparency and accountability initiatives. Responding to this gap, this report, based on a review of literature and experience across the field with special focus on five sectors of transparency and accountability work, aims to improve understanding among policy-makers and practitioners of the available evidence and identify gaps in knowledge to inform a longer-term research agenda. More

Contextual forces

October 2010
Causal loop diagrams can show the many factors that contribute to a problem, and how they link together. By understanding the broader context, organisations can identify what is within and what is beyond their ability to change. More

Value chain analysis

October 2010
SNV Ethiopia is using value chain analysis to understand how farmers are interlinked with other actors, and to identify capacities of key actors that require strengthening. More

Evaluation of capacity-building impacts of Belgian NGO Partnerships

March 2011
Evaluation of capacity-building impacts of Belgian NGO Partnerships This report describes the results and conclusions of the evaluation of Belgian NGO partnerships and capacity development (CD) commissioned by the Belgian Directorate-General of Development Cooperation and carried out by a consortium led by HIVA at the University of Leuven. More

How can donors best support the strengthening of domestic accountability in developing countries?

March 2011
Rather than encouraging the adoption of particular models of governance, donors should seek to nurture the environment of transparency and accountability out of which appropriate solutions to the challenges of development might emerge, led and owned by local stakeholders. This is one of the key messages from a panel discussion on domestic accountability during the European Development Days in Brussels, on 6th December 2010. It is also the focus of a new ECDPM discussion paper that explores how emerging capacity development perspectives can help foster democratic ownership. More

New book on ownership and political steering in developing countries

April 2011
New book on ownership and political steering in developing countries Donors increasingly recognize the political dimension of development cooperation and that they themselves are political actors. But how can this 'political' role be aligned with the interests and ideas of partner countries, and with the principle of ownership? How are partnerships and mutual trust created and maintained through the ups and downs of daily cooperation? How does policy making take place in partner countries, and how can donor and supply driven cooperation be avoided? This collection of essays, published by GIZ, offers important practical insights for policy-makers and practitioners alike. More

The knowledge translation toolkit: Bridging the Know-Do Gap

May 2010
Published in May 2011 by Sage India and IDRC, this resource provides a thorough overview of what knowledge translation (KT) is and how to use it most effectively to bridge the “know–do” gap between research, policy, practice, and people. It presents the theories, tools, and strategies required to encourage and enable evidence-informed decision-making. More

Strengthening rural livelihoods with ICTs

August 2011
Enthusiasm amongst international development agencies about harnessing the potential of Information and communications technologies (ICTs) for development has waned as observers have recently questioned the impact and sustainability of such interventions. By presenting the findings of research specifically designed to measure impact on livelihoods, this publication offers new evidence for the development benefits of ICTs. More

Local governance and ICTs in Africa: Case Studies and guidelines for implementation and evaluation

August 2011
E-governance has the potential to enable local governments to engage citizens in greater participation, leading to socioeconomic developments at local and national levels. But this potential remains largely unexploited. This book offers studies from nine African countries that explore how ICTs can transform service delivery, tax, financial management, land management, education, local economic development, citizen registration, and political inclusion. More

Perverse governance: State incapacity by design in Bihar, India

August 2011
Poor governance is often attributed to historical and structural factors that are difficult to change: “it is there because it is there, or because of a legacy of pathologies like colonial rule and an unnatural degree of socio-linguistic diversity." IDS Working Paper 366 (May 2011) by Santhosh Mathew and Mick Moore explores the role of individual agency and the incentives and opportunities that powerful political insiders may face to weaken state capacity in their own interests. It focuses on governance practices during the tenure of Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, from 1990 to 2005. More

Case study: Mainstreaming gender in local governance processes in Afghanistan

September 2011
To minimize gap between the Community Development Councils and Provincial Government Organizations, Afghanistan’s National Area-Based Development Programme (NABDA) started to establish District Development Assemblies (DDAs) in 2006. This case study describes the process used to mainstream gender in these local governance processes and some of the concrete results achieved so far. More

Building capacity for competitive agricultural systems and enterprises in West Africa (Video)

January 2012
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. More

Supporting improved livelihoods for pastoralists

January 2012
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. More

Participatory radio campaigns: from awareness-raising to community capacity development (Farm Radio International)

March 2012
Farm Radio International has released a three-part research report - available in English and French - that comprises one of the first in-depth studies of rural radio in Africa. The report highlights practical experiences so far in applying the participatory radio campaigns (PRCs) methodology developed by the African Farm Radio Research Initiative (AFRRI). The first report provides an overview of the PRC methodology. The second report examines the effectiveness of radio-based market information services (MIS) for smallholder agriculture. The last report presents results from integrating newer information and communication technologies with radio to create more effective farm radio programmes. More

Feature: Making markets work for smallholders?

March 2012
Capacity and agency The polarised debate on how markets can work for or against the interests of small-scale farmers, presents major challenges for practitioners. This article aims to rebalance our thinking about smallholders and markets. More

Moving beyond strategy to implementation: Africa Capacity Indicators Report (ACIR) 2012

April 2012
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) launched the second of its flagship annual reviews on the state of capacity development in Africa on 3rd April. This year's report is devoted to the theme of capacity development in agricultural transformation and food security. One of the highlights is Ghana's upgrading to the 'High' category of the ACI composite index. The composite index measures the policy environment, processes for implementation, development results at country level and capacity development outcomes. In 2011 there were no countries classified under the 'High' category. More

Developing capacities for policy influence

October 2010
The Center for the Implementation of Public Policies Promoting Equity and Growth (CIPPEC) links research and policy to improve the livelihoods of people in Latin America and the Caribbean. More

The dynamics of change

December 2010
Dealing with power – the key to successful MSPs? For over ten years, Wageningen UR Centre for Development Innovation (CDI) has been offering capacity development programmes to support the practitioners of multi-stakeholder processes (MSPs). One of the most important functions of these programmes is to prepare facilitators to work with power and conflict in order to bring about successful outcomes. More

Maintaining effective micro-macro linkages

June 2010
Rajesh Tandon claims that donor harmonisation is making his work more difficult. For his organisation, Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), it means fewer resources and less influence internationally. Tandon has therefore reassessed his priorities and has decided to take his ideas elsewhere. As he explains to Evelijne Bruning, he is now focusing on those people he can reach – and there are millions of them. More

Tools, principles or policies?

October 2010
One of the most notable changes in the field of agricultural development has been the growing popularity of thinking in terms of innovation systems rather than just focusing on research. More

Rethinking governance and development in Africa

April 2011
Below the apex of the national political systems and behind the headlines, in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa most of the time, governance is failing to work for development. The better-off solve their livelihood problems privately, while for the majority life remains harsh, troubled and short. It is against this backdrop that a new research venture, the Africa Power and Politics Programme, is exploring more effective forms of delivering public goods, under the guiding hypothesis that "institutions function better when they 'work with the grain' of the society which hosts them." More

Organizational learning in Mexican agriculture

April 2011
To be an effective poverty alleviation instrument, agricultural policies (including research, extension, and innovation) must be based on an evolutionary approach that emphasizes experimentation, learning, and active interactions among diverse partners. However, most agricultural research and extension policies and institutions in developing countries lack the necessary flexibility to implement such an approach. Instead, they apply uniform recipes and struggle with organizational rigidities and other problems. Notable exceptions to this trend have been the Mexican Produce Foundations (PFs). More

Interview: Riding the green wave

September 2011
Elizabeth Dipuo Peters, Minister of Energy, Republic of South Africa South Africa’s path to universal energy access South Africa is on track to achieve near-universal access to energy by 2015, a remarkable achievement given that 15 years ago, only 30% of the population had access to electricity. Minister Elizabeth Dipuo Peters, explains how they did it. More

Building competitiveness in Africa's agriculture: a guide to value chain concepts and applications

August 2011
Using real examples, mostly from African countries, this book reviews and illustrates a range of concepts, analytical tools, and methodologies centered on the value chain that can be used to design, implement, and evaluate agricultural and agribusiness development initiatives that strive to enhance productivity and competitiveness. More

Using (South-South) knowledge exchange for capacity development: What works in global practice?

January 2012
While knowledge exchange, especially between countries facing comparable challenges, is widely recognised as a tool for facilitating development innovation, there has been little empirical work to assess the effectiveness of such programmes with a view to informing global practice. This joint study by the Korea Development Institute (KDI) and World Bank Institute (WBI) assessed three of their South-South knowledge exchange programmes in Asia, Africa and Latin America. More

Strengthening pastoralist voices in Tanzania

February 2012
This booklet, and its accompanying DVD, reports on the ‘Strengthening Voices’ project, underway in two districts in northern Tanzania. The project aims to strengthen the capacity of pastoralist communities and local governments to shape strategies for adaptive environmental management and poverty reduction in Tanzania’s drylands. At the core of the project is a training course that explains the economic and ecological processes at the heart of pastoral systems - clarifying the rationale that underpins pastoral livelihood strategies.The course is based on a similar initiative that has been field-tested and run in the Sahel region of West Africa since 2000. More

Lessons Learned from 25 Years of Food Security Research, Capacity-Building and Outreach

March 2012
This document from Michigan State University contains an overview of the past 25 years of research, capacity-building, and outreach by the university's Food Security Group (FSG). The paper describes key elements of the FSG approach and examines the insights gained from research and outreach, primarily in Africa, and their value to the U.S. Feed the Future Initiative in addressing the major current challenges facing food and agricultural systems. More

Capacity, complexity and consulting: lessons from managing capacity development projects

March 2012
In recent years, the Research and Policy in Development (RAPID) programme of the UK-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI) has increasingly focused on managing large, multiyear processes, aimed at building the capacity of local institutions in developing countries to change the way they engage with policy. This paper draws on the observations of RAPID staff involved in various projects as well as on primary documentation such as trip reports, after action reviews and project reports. It also includes a ‘ light-touch’ review of some of the grey and academic literature available on capacity development, complexity, managing social change and aid agency behaviour. More