Capacity development manager - Global campaigns

February 2013
Contracting organization: Save the Children International Location: United Kingdowm Application deadline: 26 February 2013 Type/duration of assignment: Full time staff position More information: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/jobs/capacity-development-manager-global-campaigns-2013114 This post will enhance Save the Children's global campaign by ensuring effective campaigns and advocacy delivery. It will ensure the right capacity, structure, planning and evaluation of our campaigns and advocacy in priority countries, across Save the Children International (SCI) and in newer Save the Children Member organisations. More

Global Accountability Report

November 2010
Launched in December 2007, the Global Accountability Report ranks the accountability of 30 major global organizations. More

Global Forum on Sanitation and Hygiene, 2011

March 2011
The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) is convening the 2011 Global Forum on Sanitation and Hygiene in Mumbai, India, from 9-14 October. The overarching themes for the week are “Accelerating Change,” “Building Knowledge and Capacity” and “Sharing across Regions.” There will also be a “Bottom of the Pyramid WASH Fair” of organizations, products and services, and ideas. More

Global Program Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) Advisor, Oxfam America

April 2012
Contracting organization: Oxfam America Location: Boston, MA, United States Application Deadline: Open,but applications submitted by 23 March will be given priority Type/duration of assignment: Staff position More information: http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whoweare/jobs/pages/open-positions Oxfam America is currently seeking a skilled and inspired MEL practitioner to join their Learning, Evaluation and Accountability Department (LEAD). The organization has a small, home office team (based in Boston) which guides our MEL practice globally. This position would be focused on collaborating with senior MEL colleagues in our regional offices to build robust MEL systems at the field level, and ensuring that we maintain our overall quality standards for Program-level, as well as project-level MEL. This is a great opportunity to join a very dedicated team of MEL practitioners committed to evidenced-based learning. More

Improved access for Southern researchers on GDNet

February 2009
Launched in January 2009, the revamped Global Development Network (GDN) website aims to enhance research, social networking and knowledge sharing, especially among Southern researchers. The website provides access to, among other online services: free access journals, thousands of recently published studies focusing on research carried out in developing countries, details of funding opportunities, and the World Development Indicators database, one of the most extensive data collections in this area. More

Steve Waddell (2011) Global Action Networks: Creating our future together, Palgrave Macmillan

December 2010
This book seeks to provide guidance for those engaged in multi-stakeholder processes at the global level through Global Action Networks (GANs). Steve Waddell sees GANs as communities of like-minded people from different backgrounds working together to address global challenges such as climate change, deforestation, the international financial crisis and poverty. GANs bring together people working with government, businesses and NGOs. More

Global Campus for water and development underway

November 2012
Plans are underway for the establishment of a Global Campus for Water and Development based at the UNESCO Institute for Water Education (UNESCO-IHE) in 2013. The objective is to close the gap in the broad field of specialist capacity needed in the field of water worldwide by providing more education at a regional level to young talented people via partners and in the future also in collaboration with regional UNESCO-IHE institutes. More

Global Transparency Initiative

November 2010
The GTI is a network of civil society organizations promoting openness of international financial institutions (IFIs), such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the European Investment Bank and regional development banks. They support civil society’s right to information and to participate in the development policies and projects that affect their lives. More

Center for Global Development (CGD)

November 2010
The CGD's "Engaging Fragile States" initiative aims to improve the effectiveness of foreign assistance in countries that represent difficult, long-term development challenges. More

Global South-South Development Expo 2011

August 2011
Dates: 5-9 December 2011 Type of event: Expo Location: Rome, Italy Organization: UN FAO With the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) rapidly approaching, it is critical for countries, the UN system, multilateral institutions, civil society and the private sector to explore all avenues for small, medium and large-scale development solutions to the complex challenges faced by developing countries. The first Global South-South Development Expo (GSSD Expo) aims to showcase Southern solutions to the urgent problem of food insecurity. More

Global fund announces new cooperation model to strengthen domestic accountability

January 2013
The Global Fund has launched a transition phase towards a new funding model that is set to become fully operational in 2014. According to the Fund ".... The new model will increase country focus and provide implementers with more flexible timing, better alignment with national strategies, greater predictability on the process and the level of funding available, early feedback on grant applications, and an ability to elicit full expressions of demand." More

Global alliance to enhance access to medicines

November 2010
In many developing countries there is little publicly available information on the price, quality, availability and promotion of medicines. More

NGO/Capacity Builder - Global Partnership for NGO Studies, Education and Training

November 2010
The Global Partnership (GP) was founded in 1996 by BRAC (Bangladesh), the Organisation of Rural Associations for Progress (Zimbabwe) and the School for International Training (Vermont, USA). More

Guest column: The forgotten link

May 2011
Abdul Ghaffar, Executive director of the World Health Organization Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, Geneva Why health systems are failing Both 1978 and 2000 were watershed years for world health. The conference of health leaders in Alma Ata in 1978 and the United Nations Assembly in 2000, where the Millennium Declaration was adopted, stand out as the two international gatherings that threw global health into the spotlight and put it on the development agenda. More

Global Action Networks event

April 2012
Global Action Networks (GANs) face unique development challenges, including how to establish strong linkages; how to measure their effectiveness and ensure legitimacy with diverse stakeholders, and; how to develop learning strategies to ensure their own capacity for success. The 19th Annual Conference on Multi-Organizational Partnerships, Alliances and Networks (MOPAN) will include a GANs track, designed to bring together GANs practitioners and researchers to address some of these questions. 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

The Huairou Commission

November 2010
The Huairou Commission is a global coalition of networks, institutions, and individual professionals that supports and validates grassroots women's contributions to development, and that links grassroots women's community development organizations to partners, resources, information, political space, and on-the-ground practice. More

Implementing the Paris Declaration: No end in sight

October 2011
The results of the 2011 Survey on Monitoring the Paris Declaration make for sobering reading, according to the OECD. At the global level, only 1 out of the 13 targets established for 2010 has been met, which makes for a tough agenda as countries prepare to meet in Busan, Korea, for the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness. More

Capacity development for education for all (CapEFA): Translating theory into practice

November 2011
UNESCO's Education for All Global Monitoring Report (2011) suggests that national barriers to Education for All (EFA) have been largely under-estimated and that, over the past decade, insufficient attention has been paid to strategies for overcoming them. The recently launched publication “Capacity Development for Education for All: Translating Theory into Practice” offers an opportunity for UNESCO to reflect upon its capacity development approach while bringing together some of the crucial achievements and lessons learned through the CapEFA programme. More

An innovative methodology for assessing multi-stakeholder networks

May 2011
In this informative blog post, Steve Waddell reflects on a recent study focusing on the effectiveness of multi-stakeholder relationships, which he describes as a notoriously under-developed field. The study was commissioned by the International Land Coalition, a multi-stakeholder network aiming to promote secure and equitable access to, and control over, land through advocacy, dialogue, knowledge sharing and capacity building. The blog explains the unique methodology developed by iScale (a global network that works to advance the effectiveness of social change efforts through process, methodological and technological innovations) for conducting such assessments. More

Engaging citizen's voices: Global conference

March 2013
Date: 18 March 2013 Type of event: Conference Location: Washington DC and Online Organization: World Bank Institute More information: http://wbi.worldbank.org/wbi/event/citizen-voices? Citizen Voices will focus on citizen engagement and feedback systems that strengthen the quality of policymaking and the science of service delivery, and where the impact on the poor is most direct. The conference will position the citizen engagement agenda as essential for effective development, move from knowledge to action, and establish concrete partnerships for scaling up at global and national levels. More

Interview: Giving substance to pretty words

May 2011
NGO's role in bolstering public health systems Promoting ‘country ownership’ in aid-dependent countries is central to the debate on aid effectiveness – but global health initiatives have often encouraged the opposite. In 2008 a code of conduct was drafted to address this trend. Capacity.org talked with Wendy Johnson, director of new initiatives with Health Alliance International (HAI), who was one of the architects of the code of conduct. More

First "State of the Humanitarian System" report published

January 2011
The aim of this report, commissioned under ALNAP’s Humanitarian Performance Project, was to provide a system-level mapping and assessment of international humanitarian assistance. The research team synthesized the findings of roughly 500 global survey responses, 100 recent evaluations, 89 interviews, staffing and budget information of over 200 aid organizations and a financial analysis of global humanitarian aid flows. The resulting report represents a pilot effort to broadly assess the ‘state of the system’ with the intent, if it is found useful, to repeat the exercise once every two years. In one of its key findings, the study depicts "a system steadily and incrementally improving its own internal mechanics and technical performance, while remaining deficient in some 'big picture' requirements for effectiveness". More

Post-2015 consultations: Call for input from southern researchers and practitioners

March 2013
The Global Development Network (GDN) seeks input from Southern researchers for an international seminar in New Delhi in late March that will connect members of the UN High Level Panel with the academic community of economists and other social scientists from developing countries. Input can be provided through an online survey - closing on 11 March - that covers five of the most pressing questions facing the panellists: More

The Change Alliance

December 2010
The Change Alliance is an emerging global network that aspires to increase the effectiveness of multi-stakeholder processes (MSPs) working for transformational social change, particularly in complex settings. More

GDN Global Research Project Bridging Research and Policy

November 2010
The Global Development Network (GDN) is working in collaboration with 11 regional partners on the Global Research Project Bridging Research and Policy. The aim is to improve understanding of the links between research and policy, and to bridge the gap between researchers, policy makers and intermediary organisations such as media and professional associations in order to promote evidence-based policy making in low- and middle-income countries. More

Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict

November 2010
GPPAC is a world-wide civil society-led network which aims to build a new international consensus on peacebuilding and the prevention of violent conflict. It was established in 2003 in response to the call of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his Report on the Prevention of Armed Conflict (2001). GPPAC strengthens civil society networks for peace and security by linking local, national, regional, and global levels of action and provides an effective vehicle for engagement with governments, the UN system, and regional organizations. 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

Combining local knowledge and global science: A practical guide

November 2010
This practical guide developed by DFID’s Research Into Use programme draws on practical experience in Nepal to show how the combination of external and local knowledge helps improve the lives of small-scale farmers by producing practical solutions suited to their needs. More

1st Summer Institute on global poverty and inclusive development

March 2012
Date: 24-25 April 2012 Type of event: Specialized training programme Location: Amsterdam, the Netherlands Organization: University of Amsterdam More information: www.gsss.uva.nl/sip There is an increasing urgency to understand the conditions of poverty, the dynamics of poverty, and the complexities involved in embarking upon more inclusive development trajectories. The Summer Institute on Global Poverty & Inclusive Development contributes to the growing worldwide interest among academics and professionals in the causes of poverty and its alleviation. Classes are taught by Dr. Deepa Narayan, an internationally known expert on poverty and author of Voices of the Poor and Moving out of Poverty in close cooperation with Dr. Nicky Pouw, co- author of Local Governance and Poverty in Developing Nations (with Isa Baud). 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

Global Leadership Initiative of the World Bank Institute

November 2010
World Bank Institute (WBI) leads research project to examine donor and partners support to leaders. More

NGO/Capacity Builder - Women's Learning Partnership

November 2010
The Women's Learning Partnership (WLP) is a builder of networks, working with 18 autonomous and independent partner organizations in the Global South, particularly in Muslim-majority societies, to empower women to transform their families, communities, and societies. More

Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation: PRIA Global Partnership newsletter, Vol. 1, Issue 4

March 2012
The October 2011 issue of PRIA's Global Partnership newsletter contains a selection of papers that were presented and discussed in the International Conference on Monitoring and Evaluation: New Developments and Challenges, jointly organized by INTRAC, PSO and PRIA held on 14-16 June 2011 in the Netherlands. 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

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

Webinar series: Increasing the effectiveness of networks working on global public challenges (iScale)

March 2012
Dates: Various: between 28 March and 6 April 2012 Type of event: Webinar Location: Online/Global (sessions organised by timezone) Organization: Innovations for Scaling Impact (iScale) More information: www.scalingimpact.net/content/iscale-webinar-increasing-effectiveness-networks Since 2008, iScale, has implemented an IDRC-supported project examining the role of multi-stakeholder networks as agents of change in addressing global challenges that has resulted in the development of frameworks that can help networks scale impact by understanding what to measure, for what purpose, when, and how, through the use of approaches that integrate planning, assessment, reporting, and learning. Beginning in late March 2012, iScale will host webinars to discuss this work on how networks working on global public challenges can increase their effectiveness and scale impact. The webinars will be offered in two formats: a condensed session lasting 1.5 hours and an in-depth session lasting approximately 2.5-3 hours. Each session will be conducted three times and in three time zones in an effort to accommodate interested participants from all over the world. More

Cultural barriers to women's leadership: a worldwide comparison

November 2010
This paper tests a series of four hypotheses about the relationship between a society’s political culture and gender equality in political leadership. In 2000, worldwide women represented only one in seven parlimentarians, one in ten cabinet ministers, and one in twenty Heads of State or Government. Projections based on the current place of global change indicate that women will achieve parity in parliaments a century from now. How did (political) culture contribute to this situation? More

Report of national stakeholder consultations on water in the post-2015 development agenda

May 2013
This report published by the Global Water Partnership (GWP) summarizes findings from 22 national consultations that it organized between February and May 2013. The consultations aimed to: identify country needs; obtain a deeper qualitative understanding of national priorities; and compliment the online global thematic consultation on water. The broad topics covered included water resources and wastewater management, as well as quality and water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). More

Online resources on democratic governance and the market economy in development

November 2010
The CIPE Development Institute is an open resource on the role of democratic governance and the market economy in development. 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

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

"Locating the power of in-between"

November 2010
This report by the Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa, and the Institute of Development Studies, UK, presents the outcome of a conference held in 2008 to explore the role of research brokers, and knowledge and information intermediaries in supporting and enabling evidence-based, pro-poor policy and practice. A group of organizations actively involved in intermediary work are taking forward ideas and action from the conference through the I-K-Mediary Network. More

Global Development Network

November 2010
This GDN toolkit provides broad tips and practical suggestions for communicating academic research using the internet. It draws on best practice for web strategies from the information and commercial worlds, especially selected to help the successful electronic dissemination of your research. More

Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID)

November 2010
The Assocation of Women's Rights in Development is an international membership organization connecting, informing and mobilizing people and organizations committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and women's human rights. 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

Theory U - "leading from the future as it emerges"

November 2010
Presencing," a blend of the words "presence" and "sensing," refers to the ability to sense and bring into the present one's highest future potential—as an individual and as a group. This approach is promoted by the Presencing Institute (PI) - a global awareness based action research community for profound societal innovation and change. More

Connecting communities of practice

October 2010
Capacity development is high on the policy agenda. To enrich learning processes and improve practice, the capacity development community must interact more effectively with other communities of practice. More

Policy Matters

November 2010
Global Development Network initiatives to shape global policy debates and bridge research and policy consultations. More

Interactive seminar series: Learning from mega disasters

March 2012
Dates: 18 April - 11 May 2012 (NB: Registration deadline is 11 April 2012) Type of event: Video conference series (6 sessions) with live webcasts Location: Various (region-based) + Online Organization: Global Development Learning Network(GDLN) More information on themes and target countries: http://www.jointokyo.org/en/programs/catalogue/mega_disasters/ This video conference series is organized as part of a Government of Japan/World Bank programme “ Learning from Mega Disasters: Program of Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Exchange,” launched in October 2011. The project has developed 33 Knowledge Notes so far, which will be grouped into 6 clusters for the GDLN knowledge-exchange sessions. The objectives of the KS sessions are to: (i) share initial findings and lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake with practitioners throughout the world, and (ii) exchange views among experts on how these lessons could be transferred and adapted to developing countries. More

The low-carbon development pathway

June 2012
INTERVIEW: Prospects after the Durban Climate Change Summit Angela Churie Kallhauge, senior policy advisor at the Swedish Energy Agency, represents Sweden at high-level climate change negotiations and has her roots in a pastoralist community in Kenya. Capacity.org talked to her about adaptation, mitigation and development. More

Policy: The price of empowerment

March 2012
Fair trade competes with other certification brands Over the last couple of years, certification brands of coffee have steadily increased their volume of sales in Northern consumer markets, with an ever broader portfolio of products. On the face of it, this appears to be good news for groups of small producers who sell their coffee through these certification schemes. However, the growth figures are significantly lower for the brand that is most committed to working with farmers organisations, the Fair Trade Labelling Organizations (FLO), also known as Fairtrade International, which brings together 25 fair trade initiatives from around the world. More

NGO/Capacity Builder - SNV

November 2010
SNV-Netherlands Development Organisation is an international development organization that provides advisory services to nearly 1800 local organizations in over 30 developing countries to support their fight against poverty. SNV is currently active in Asia, Africa, the Balkans, and Latin America. More

Consultancy: Plan UK Independent Progress Review

April 2012
Contracting organization: Plan UK Location: Unspecified Application Deadline: 23 April 2012 Type/duration of assignment: Short-term consultancy More information: http://www.plan-uk.org/jobs-and-volunteers/consultancy-plan-uk-dfid-ppa-independent-progress-review/ Plan UK is looking for an experienced evaluator/s to conduct an Independent Progress Review of the DFID PPA funded programme: Building Skills for Life: Empowering Adolescent Girls through Education. The programme is focused around 4 thematic areas of programming: Education; Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights; Economic Empowerment; Protection from Violence. PPA projects are being implemented in 9 Plan countries offices: Pakistan, Cambodia, El Salvador, Mali, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Kenya. More

FFSnet

November 2010
As the Farmer Field School (FFS) approach continues to spread the Global FFS Network and Resource Centre (FFSnet) has been set up to provide training, documentation and resource persons for implementing FFS globally. More

Capacity development toolkit for health systems strengthening

November 2012
This UNDP-Global Fund Partnership toolkit provides practical advice, tools, templates and process guidance covering five key steps in the transition from UNDP management towards full national responsibility for implementing response programmes for HIV&AIDS, TB and Malaria. More

Humanitarian Accountability Partnership 2007

November 2010
Established in 2003, HAP International is the humanitarian sector's first international self-regulatory body. Members of HAP are committed to meeting the highest standards of accountability and quality management. In addition, HAP certifies those members that comply with the HAP Standard in Humanitarian Accountability and Quality Management, providing assurance to disaster survivors, staff, volunteers, host authorities and donors that the agency will deliver the best humanitarian service possible in each situation. More

Monitoring flexible funding: navigating the challenges

September 2009
This INTRAC paper examines the debate that has emerged around the problems encountered in funding flexibly whilst trying to meet the demands for more results-based grant management (often from governments). More

International Alert

November 2010
International Alert is an independent peacebuilding organization that works to lay the foundations for lasting peace and security in communities affected by violent conflict. International Alert works in over 20 countries and territories around the world, both directly with people affected by violent conflict as well as at government, EU and UN levels to shape both policy and practice in building sustainable peace. More

Saferworld

November 2010
Saferworld is an independent non-governmental organization that works to prevent armed violence and create safer communities in which people can lead peaceful and rewarding lives. Saferworld’s aim is to empower local partners with the skills to become more effective and sustainable. Saferworld develops and carries out programmes with a range of governments and international, regional, national and local organizations. More

UNDP Governance and Conflict Prevention Community of Practice

November 2010
Established in 2006, the UNDP Governance and Conflict Prevention Community of Practice brings together practitioners from around the world working on projects, programmes and policies at the nexus of governance and conflict prevention. More

CIVICUS World Assembly 2007

November 2010
CIVICUS, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, is an international alliance established in 1993 to nurture the foundation, growth and protection of citizen action throughout the world, especially in areas where participatory democracy and citizens' freedom of association are threatened. Almost on an annual basis CIVICUS organizes a world assembly on a specific theme. 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

The partnership brokering project

November 2010
Established in 2000, the Partnership Brokering Project builds capacity for cross-sector partnerships across a broad range of development sectors. The project aims to change the partnering landscape for the better by promoting good practice and influencing leaders, planners, donors, policy makers and practitioners. More

Evaluating capacity development support

October 2010
The Policy and Operations Evaluation Department (IOB) of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently launched a major evaluation of Dutch support for capacity development in 17 countries. More

World Development Report 2012: Gender equality and development

October 2011
Policymakers and practitioners still face gaps in knowledge both in how gender equality matters for development and how best to incorporate these links in policy design. The World Development Report 2012 aims to bridge these gaps by building upon the growing body of multidisciplinary theory, evidence, and data on these links while highlighting the knowledge gaps that remain across the world in the context of the development process. The Report argues that closing gender gaps is not only a core development objective in its own right, it is also smart economics. 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

Innovative policy for dynamic markets

November 2010
A number of short studies by the Regoverning Markets programme addressing specific policy innovations in the public or private sector that improves the conditions for small-scale producers to access dynamic markets at national, regional and global level. More

Calendar for final thematic consultations on post-2015 agenda

January 2013
The calendar of final thematic consultations being organized between January and April 2013 to discuss what comes next after the Millenium Development Goals is now available. The Global Leadership Meetings (GLMs) cover 8 themes: Conflict and Fragility; Inequalities; Governance and the Post-2015 Framework; Population Dynamics; Health; Education; Water; and Hunger, Food and Nutrition Security. More

Supermarkets, Modern Supply Chains, and the Changing Food Policy Agenda

November 2010
This Centre for Global Development (CGD) working paper places the supermarket debate in the broader evolution of food policy analysis, which is a framework for integrating household, market, macro, and trade issues as they affect hunger and poverty. More

Open Budget Initiative

November 2010
On October 18, 2006 civil society organizations from 59 countries around the world unveiled the Open Budget Index. This is the first index to rate countries on how open their budget books are to their citizens. It is intended to provide citizens, legislators, and civil society advocates with the comprehensive and practical information needed to gauge a government’s commitment to budget transparency and accountability. 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

UNDP HIV/AIDS Group

November 2010
The HIV/AIDS group of UNDP supports the implementation of approaches and methodologies that embody governance in action: bringing together leaders from government, civil society – including stakeholders from the arts and media and the business sector to generate individual and collective commitment and sustainable action in response to the underlying causes of the epidemic. More

Eldis: topic-based knowledge resources

November 2010
Based at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Eldis aims to enhance access to the latest resources on development research, policy and practice. Eldis maintains a large collection of selected online documents, all available free of charge. It also provides a range of topic-based resource guides with quick access to key documents, organizations, research themes and discussions. More

World Bank capacity development resource centre: resources for development practitioners

November 2010
The Capacity Development Resource Center (CDRC) is part of the World Bank Institute. It showcases a broad range of Bank-supported capacity development initiatives and provides a broad overview of literature, case studies, lessons learned, and good practices pertaining to capacity development. It also includes links to international and local capacity development agencies. More

Zunia gateway: Capacity Development for the MDGs

November 2010
Formerly known as the Development Gateway, Zunia is a major web portal providing access to a huge range of resources, including links to events, news, data, publications, programmes, best practices, organizations, training information and research. It also offers a platform for knowledge exchange and discourse geared towards strengthening local capacities and resources to help meet the MDGs. 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

Online expert roster and study database on impact evaluation

November 2010
3ie is a US-based organization that seeks to improve the lives of poor people in low- and middle-income countries by providing, and summarizing, evidence of what works, when, why and for how much. 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

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

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

Systematic reviews in international development: Dhaka Colloquium materials now available

January 2013
In December 2012, BRAC University in Bangladesh hosted the Dhaka Colloquium, which brought together 130 leading researchers and policymakers from 31 countries to discuss the latest methodologies and evidence from systematic reviews of development programmes. Materials from the event, including videos of some of the presentations, are now available. More

Capacity development advisor, Kenya

February 2013
Contracting organization: Pact Location: Nairobi, Kenya Application deadline: Not specified Type/duration of assignment: Staff position More information: https://www5.ultirecruit.com/PAC1005/JobBoard/JobDetails.aspx?__ID=*4DFAB71DC6DA8B62 The Capacity Development Advisor will provide high-quality technical assistance to Pact’s institutional strengthening initiatives in Kenya and for Pact worldwide. The CD Advisor will be responsible for developing, implementing and documenting institutional strengthening methodologies and approaches, and for training staff and partners. In addition, the CD Advisor will be expected to remain up-to-date with the latest in African and global capacity development initiatives and will be asked to support Pact’s global portfolio. Fluency in English is a must and knowledge of Kiswahili is preferred for the position. More

Providing education for all

October 2010
There is now global consensus on the need to enhance education for girls, particularly through well coordinated partnerships. Nitya Rao and Ines Smyth assess the experiences of a number of partnerships in promoting girls’ education. More

Helping policy research organizations become more accountable

October 2010
A significant proportion of funds aimed at development is allocated to research. This investment is done on the basis that rational policy processes rely on good evidence. Research organizations generating this evidence can have great impact on the citizens of a country. As such, it is important that they remain accountable. More

International Budget Project

November 2010
Established in 1997, the IBP works with organizations that focus on the impact of government budgets on poor and low-income people in developing countries or new democracies. The aim is to make public budget policies and processes more transparent and accountable to the public. IBP publishes a bimonthly newsletter, released in English, French, Russian, and Spanish. Each newsletter includes news from current civil society budget work around the world, updates on IBP activities, and links to new papers or other materials relevant to budget analysis. 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

Enhancing the impact of humanitarian assistance

November 2010
The focus of humanitarian evaluations is shifting towards analysis of the impact of humanitarian assistance - to understand, in an evidence-based way, how aid ultimately affects the lives and livelihoods of aid recipients. More

GSDRC: Strengthening capacity in the area of governance, conflict and social development

November 2010
Funded by the UK Department for International Development, the Governance and Social Development Resource Centre (GSDRC) aims to help reduce poverty by informing policymaking and enhancing professional knowledge in relation to governance, conflict and social development. Services provided by the Resource Centre include an extensive publications database with helpful policy-oriented summaries of each document highlighting the major findings. More

International network on conflict and fragility (INCAF)

November 2010
Established in 2009 as a subsidiary body of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), INCAF is a unique decision-making forum that brings together governments and international organizations to support peacebuilding as well as effective and legitimate state institutions. More

Tailoring international development support for low-income countries under stress

November 2010
In rethinking its role in supporting country development in low-income states, the World Bank set up a special taskforce on Low-Income Countries Under Stress (LICUS) jn 2002 to extend its thinking to countries whose policies and institutions offer limited scope for poverty reduction through donor-supported programmes and projects. More

Capacity development learning network

November 2010
This network was created in June 2009 following a learning forum organized by the World Bank Institute and InWEnt Capacity Building International in Washington DC. The goal is to unite international partners in the development learning community with a shared agenda to improve the practice and results of learning programmes. More

RAPID toolkit on knowledge and learning tools

November 2010
This toolkit has been produced with the aim the specific aim to present entry points and references to a wide range of tools and methods which are used to facilitate improved knowledge and learning in the development and humanitarian sectors. 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

The interactive Organizational Assessment (OA) website

November 2010
The Organizational Assessment (OA) website offers guidance for organizations to help them choose appropriate frameworks and models for self-evaluation and self-reflection. 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

Web-based aid management platform

November 2010
The Development Gateway's Aid Management Platform is a web-based information system for governments and their development partners. It helps track, report, and coordinate international aid flows. 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

Linking agricultural research and practice: Climate analogues tool helps farmers anticipate their future climate

January 2012
"Climate Analogues" is a new open access tool launched at the UN Climate Change conference in Durban in December 2011 that aims to help farmers to assess the impacts of progressive climate change on agricultural production. The tool locates sites where the climate today is similar to that predicted for another location in the future, enabling farmers and policymakers to determine how to adapt to anticipated changes. More

Towards common standards in development evaluation

March 2012
Few development organizations have the capacity to effectively evaluate their programmes. While there is broad agreement on the need to strengthen evaluation capacity, there has been little consensus so far on how to go about this. With this in mind, the Evaluation Capacity Development Group (ECDG) and the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation (JCSEE) developed a proposal to create an International Workshop Agreement (IWA) on evaluation capacity development that has been approved by the International Standardization Organization (ISO). During a workshop in Geneva, Switzerland on 17-21 October 2011, ECDG brought together M&E practitioners and standards experts to create a voluntary, consensus-driven agreement towards this end. A report of the workshop, which was supported by IDRC, GIZ and the OECD/DAC Evaluation Network, is now available. More

Evaluation for equitable development results

April 2012
This wide-ranging publication aims to contribute to the international debate on how to achieve equitable development results by conceptualizing, designing, implementing and using evaluations focused on human rights and equity. It does so by offering a number of strong contributions from 27 world-level experts and senior officers in institutions and governments dealing with development and evaluation. The authors also presented their contribution in a series of webinars that are available for download on the My M&E web portal. The book complements an earlier manual “ How to design and implement equity-focused evaluations,” published in 2011. More

Scaling up inclusive business models

June 2012
From islands of success to seas of change Several successful approaches to inclusive business have been developed in recent decades. What will it take to scale them up? This was the core question discussed at an international workshop held in The Hague in April 2012 as part of the Seas of Change Initiative. More

Gender and social inclusion: New UN programme to focus on rural women's economic integration

September 2012
UN Women has announced the launch of a new programe focused on economic integration and food security of rural women, known as " Accelerating Progress toward the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women". The initiative was officially unveiled on 27th September 2012 during the UN General Assembly meeting in New York. The 5-year programme will be run by a consortium of UN agencies including UN Women, the World Food Program, FAO and IFAD. The programme will be piloted in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Liberia, Nepal, Nigeria, Rwanda and Kyrgyzstan. More

Aid withdrawal and civil society sustainability (INTRAC paper)

December 2012
Many international NGOs are reviewing their work in particular countries or with particular partners. In many places, funding is being withdrawn from local civil society organizations as projects and programmes are phased out. While aid withdrawal might be desirable in situations where its purpose has been served, the process of withdrawing from established relationships is neither straightforward nor trauma-free for any of the parties involved. It is in this context that INTRAC hosted a one-day exploratory workshop for CSOs, development practitioners and researchers to debate issues around partnership, civil society sustainability and aid withdrawal. The report is now available. More

Tracking post-2015 development goals: Call for input

January 2013
The Overseas Development Institute (ODI, UK) has announced an initiative to track all proposals emerging out of the UN High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Millenium Development Goals and the UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (an outcome of the Rio+20 Conference in June 2012). The project invites input on any missing proposals and is especially interested in any proposals on concrete targets and indicators. For an overview of goals tracked so far, please go to: http://post2015.org/2013/01/08/tracking-proposals-on-future-development-goals/ More

Dilemmas of partnerships

January 2013
GUEST COLUMN "If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together." Nowadays, policymakers and leaders of businesses and NGOs habitually quote this old African proverb in support of their partnering strategy. Partnering is the most institutionalised form of inter-organisational learning. But the partnering process is anything but straightforward. Indeed, it is replete with (learning) dilemmas. More

Planet under pressure: new knowledge

January 2012
Dates: 26-29 March 2012 Type of event: International conference Location: London, UK Organization: International Council for Science (ICSU) and diverse partners The research community has a responsibility to provide the knowledge needed to move society towards effective stewardship of the planet and to communicate the urgency of this challenge to society. But science alone is not enough. This conference is intended to be a major opportunity to link global-change science in a two-way engagement with the wide range of other stakeholders working towards global sustainability. It is organised as part of the lead up to the forthcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development taking place in Brazil in June, commonly known as Rio+20. More

Partnerships and Mutual Accountability for Development Results (E-discussion)

October 2012
Dates: 4 October to 1 November 2012 Type of event: E-discussion Location: Online/Global Organization: UNDP and partners More information: https://undp.unteamworks.org/login?destination=node%2F91436 Launched on 4 October, this four-week long e-discussion aims to gather diverse viewpoints about the results and quality of development cooperation in different countries, regions and globally. The e-discussion is co-hosted by the UNDP Knowledge, Innovation and Capacity Group, Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD). The discussion will take place in two parts: the first part (4-18 Oct. 2012) will focus on taking stock of improving mutual accountability at country level, the second part (19 Oct. – 1 Nov. 2012) examines the relationship between the country, regional and global processes and frameworks. More

Building the capacity of producer organisations

October 2010
One might think that the recent rise in global food prices presents an opportunity for the developing world’s 450 million smallholder farmers. But too few are responding by increasing production. Why is this so? In this issue, Jack Wilkinson, former president of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP), and a farmer himself, gives this rhetorical response: ‘ Imagine being a farmer in an area where there is no road and no credit system, and yet you are hearing about a global food shortage. It wouldn’t mean anything to you, because you would be so removed from the whole system’. More

The Capacity Project: final report

August 2011
Human resources for health (HRH) first attracted global attention when it became evident that the health workforce in the developing world was facing a crisis, and that this was affecting health service delivery and health outcomes. The Joint Learning Initiative on Human Resources for Health and Development (JLI), a consortium of more than 100 health leaders from around the world, undertook an exploration of the HRH landscape during 2002-2004 and identified three major aspects of an accelerating global HRH crisis: (i) the devastation of HIV/AIDS; (ii) an accelerated level of out-migration of health professionals from developing countries; and (iii) chronic underinvestment in human resources. The study concluded that “mobilization and strengthening of the health workforce is central to combating health crises in some of the world’s poorest countries and for building sustainable health systems.” More

Initiative for Peacebuilding

November 2010
The Initiative for Peacebuilding (IfP) brings together the complementary geographic and thematic expertise of 10 civil society organizations (and their networks) with offices across the EU and in conflict-affected countries. IfP partners work to develop and promote international knowledge and expertise in the field of conflict prevention of peacebuilding. More

Knowledge to policy: Making the most of development research

November 2010
Does research influence public policy and decision-making and, if so, how? Published in 2009, this book analyses the outcomes of 23 research projects funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre in Asia, Africa and Latin America to understand the effects of research in the field of international development. Written in a reader-friendly, journalistic style, the analysis gives the reader a deeper grasp and understanding of approaches, contexts, relationships, and events. test More

Toolkit on biocultural protocols for community facilitators

September 2012
Indigenous peoples and local communities are increasingly engaging with external actors such as government agencies, researchers, companies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). However, external actors often do not understand customary protocols and governance systems because they are codified in ways specific to each community, culture, and location. Failing to respect community protocols, whether intentional or not, can lead to conflict, deterioration of otherwise constructive relations, and negative impacts on the environment. Biocultural Community Protocols: A Toolkit for Community Facilitators is published by Natural Justice, a NGO that assists communities to engage with legal frameworks to secure environmental and social justice. More

Gender inclusion in agricultural value chains

September 2012
The central (but under-recognized) role of women in agricultural value chains and the international food security agenda is coming under increased scrutiny in development theory and practice. Published by the Agri-ProFocus network, Challenging chains to change: Gender equity in agricultural value chain development draws on dozens of case studies to show how development organizations and private entrepreneurs are working to improve the position of small-scale women farmers and primary processors in value chains. More

Land use, climate change adaptation and indigenous peoples (UNU video)

October 2012
In the face of increasing climate instability, there is need to understand the specific vulnerabilities, concerns, adaptation capacities and longer-term aspirations of indigenous peoples and marginalized communities around the world. This 18-minute video produced by United Nations University underscores the need for increased recognition of indigenous rights and respectful two-way collaboration in order to build better early warning systems and support local efforts towards building resilience. More

Coordinating capacity development partnerships in the higher education sector

February 2013
‘Synergy in action’ is a new book from Nuffic (the Netherlands organisation for international cooperation in higher education). The book focuses on programmes which aim to strengthen higher education and research capacity in developing countries. Nuffic administers two such programmes: the Netherlands Fellowship Programmes (NFP) and the Netherlands Initiative for Capacity development in Higher Education (NICHE). More

Thematic learning programmes

January 2013
Building bridges through learning PSO, a Dutch umbrella organisation with 57 member affiliates, has funded 13 inter-organisational learning processes since 2010. Referred to by PSO as thematic learning programmes, or TLPs, they were evaluated in late 2012. More

Policy: The woes of rural wage labour

March 2012
The limitations of inclusiveness Smallholder agriculture is back on the global policy agenda. This is because of the growing demand for food and because the livelihoods of billions of people depend on small farms. However, farm wage labour remains largely ignored. More

Stakeholder views on aid effectiveness

February 2013
Time to Listen captures experiences and ideas on how to make international aid more effective and shift the paradigm from the current externally driven aid delivery system to a collaborative one that truly supports local people as drivers of their own development. The publication is based on a research initiative, the Listening Project, which sought the views of more than 6,000 people in 20 aid receiving countries who have received international assistance, observed the effects of aid efforts, or been involved in providing aid. More

CD Monitor: A sea change in agri-food

March 2012
Expanding development in the inclusive agri-food market Over the next few decades, there will be extensive and unprecedented change in global agri-food systems. When taken together, the growing demand for food, the effects of climate change, the need to respond to poverty and hunger and the rapid decline of natural resources mean that ‘business as usual’ is no longer an option. A new perspective is needed if the agri-food sector is to be able to maintain secure supplies and guarantee food security. Innovation and growth in the sector must focus on how to expand, secure and distribute supplies in an inclusive and sustainable way – and that point needs to be reached fast. More

When does rigorous impact evaluation make a difference?

September 2011
Different methods to estimate impacts are clearly suitable in different settings. But there is sharp disagreement about exactly when high standards of rigour in impact estimation are a luxury and when they are a necessity. Advocates of more rigorous impact evaluation argue that it can improve incentives for development agencies by increasing transparency and avoid the waste of scarce resources on attractive but ineffective projects. Advocates of more indirect and heuristic impact evaluation methods argue that high demands for rigor are often better suited to academics than practitioners, focus inordinate attention on easily quantifiable outcomes, take too long to yield results, and divert scarce resources away from interventions already known to work well. The Center for Global Development's Working Paper 225 (October 2010) seeks to contribute to this debate by dissecting the case for and against rigorous impact evaluation in one concrete and high-profile setting: the Millennium Village Project (MVP), a large, experimental intervention which aims to spark local economic development in fourteen village clusters across Africa. More

Small-scale producers in modern agrifood chains

November 2010
The October 2008 issue of Development Outreach magazine revisits the 2008 World Development Report to explore a range of policy responses to the global food crisis. More

Training Institute - United Nations University - International Leadership Institute

November 2010
The United Nations University International Leadership Institute in Jordan was established in 1995 to build leadership capacity, conduct original research on leadership and enchance public awareness on the interface between leadership and issues of pressing global concern. More

How do stakeholders in Ghana perceive Multilateral Donors?

November 2010
This ODI survey focused on perceptions of the African Development Bank, Asian Development, the European Commission, the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria, UNICEF, UNDP and the World Bank. More

Diverse voices 2012

October 2012
This emerging global movement builds on a collaborative research project that examined whether and how open ICT projects designed to support the poor can make a difference in their lives and livelihoods. Coordinated by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) the study also sought to facilitate learning between technologists involved in the design and implementation of these initiatives, researchers and development practitioners. The project resulted in the launch of a global network, Diverse Voices, which aims to create a new development agenda by building on certain citizens’ experiences and opinions that are often overlooked. More

Local government capacity development expert, Kenya

April 2013
Contracting organization: Global Communities Location: Kenya Application deadline: 15 April 2013 Type/duration of assignment: Not specified More information: http://chfinternational.devhire.devex.com/jobs/327389 Global Communities, formerly CHF International, is seeking a Local Government Capacity Development Expert for an anticipated USAID funded devolution program in Kenya. The project will build the capacity of local governments, improve service delivery at the local level, establish communication and coordination mechanisms between the central government and county governments and strengthen the role of civil society as a governance partner at the local level. More

INTRAC 20th anniversary conference: Civil Society at a New Frontier

August 2011
Dates: 5-6 December 2011 Type of event: Conference Location: St Anne's College, Oxford, UK Organization: International NGO Training and Research Centre (INTRAC) This two day international development conference will focus on civil society, economic growth and the post-aid environment. More

Impact Alliance

September 2010
Impact Alliance is a global network committed to strengthening the capacity of individuals and organizations to generate deep impact within the communities they serve. It seeks to do this by accelerating the development of 'smarter' organizations through facilitating knowledge exchange and learning, open innovation and partnerships. More

Peace, conflict and development

November 2010
IDRC’s Peace, Conflict, and Development (PCD) is a research programme on issues related to peace building, transitional justice, security sector reform, and globalization and conflict. PCD supports research for specific peacebuilding processes, as well as research on key peace building challenges. PCD mainly responds to requests from research institutes, universities, policymakers, South-South and North-South networks, and civil society organizations. 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

Social Equity and Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM)

August 2011
This paper from the Global Water Partnership explores what it calls the least understood of the 3 E’s (equity, economic efficiency and environmental sustainability) in the concept of integrated water resources management. The paper sets out an overarching framework to guide decision makers in designing policies, interventions, and programmes aimed at the equitable distribution of benefits from water resources. More

Coaching as a leadership development strategy

November 2011
Dates: 14 December 2011 Type of event: Webinar Location: Online, global Organization: Leadership Learning Center/CompassPoint Leadership development is on the forefront of grantmaker and capacity builders' minds, particularly as organizations navigate the current realities they face. This webinar is for experienced capacity builders who are interested in exploring coaching as a leadership development strategy. More

The Huairou Commission

November 2010
Isis-Women’s International Cross-Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE) exists to promote justice and empowerment of women globally through documenting violations of women’s rights and facilitating the exchange of information and skills to strengthen women’s capacities, potential and visibility. More

The governance of scaling up: Identifying key elements in successful sustainability practices

March 2013
This report by the Global Network of National Councils for Sustainable Development (NCSDs) explores some factors that affect the transferability of successful sustainable development practices. The authors note the need for 'mindful governance' - taking into account what works where and why (or why not) - when designing national sustainable development policies. More

Call for applications: Masters Program in Capacity Development and Extension (University of Guelph)

February 2011
Applications are invited for the September 2011 intake of the MSC Program in Capacity Development & Extension at the University of Guelph, Canada. The deadline is 31 March, 2011. More

Security Sector Reform Guide for Latin America and the Caribbean

November 2010
The Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO-Chile), together with the Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform (GFN-SSR), launched the English language edition of the Report on the Security Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean. The GFN-SSN website provides a number of topic guides on this subject covering research in nine countries in the Latin America and Caribbean region, as well as the Arab Middle East. More

Understanding capacity development from within

September 2011
The Capacity.org editorial board Our message to Busan This November, representatives from 91 countries will attend the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan. Here they will review global progress on improving the impact of development aid. Since the previous forums on aid effectiveness in Paris (2005) and Accra (2008), capacity development has featured prominently in efforts to achieve lasting results. Despite the progress that has undoubtedly been made, there is still a long way to go. More

Upcoming ICT learning events

February 2011
The sixth international conference on ICT for development, education and training, eLearning Africa 2011, will take place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from 25-27 May. The conference will focus on youth, skills and employability, exploring among other questions: How are people and organizations, both globally and in Africa, coping with skills deficits and the employability crisis? Why are these deficits not being addressed effectively by our education systems? What skills development and lifelong learning programmes are under way to help address these shortages? More

M&E vacancies, Management Systems International

March 2012
Contracting organization: Management Systems International (MSI) Application Deadline: Various Type/duration of assignment: Consultancies and Staff positions More information: http://tbe.taleo.net/NA8/ats/careers/searchResults.jsp?org=MSI&cws=2 MSI is a Washington DC -based international development firm providing specialized short- and long-term technical assistance. The consultancy firm has numerous vacancies globally for capacity-development professionals, particularly in the Monitoring and Evaluation sector. For an overview of current openings, please visit the MSI website More

E-learning course on national evaluation capacity development

November 2012
Dates: 14 January to 24 March 2013 Type of event: E-learning programme Location: Online/Global Organization: EvalPartners network More information: http://mymande.org/elearning/course-details/2 Applications are invited for the second course of the e-learning programme on development evaluation, focusing on National Evaluation Capacity Development for Country-led Monitoring and Evaluation Systems.This follows the well attended e-learning course on Equity-focused evaluations that attracted almost 4,500 participants from 163 countries. More

Gender and Trade Show Capacity-Building Consultant, Southern Africa

March 2012
Contracting organization: Banyan Global Application Deadline: 30 April 2012 Type/duration of assignment: Short term consultancy More information: http://www.banyanglobal.com/careers.php Banyan Global is supporting USAID’s Southern Africa Trade Hub (SATH) with technical expertise in gender integration. SATH aims to increase international competitiveness, intra-regional trade, and food security in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. As a part of its gender integration work, SATH works to increase the fair and equal participation and representation of women in trade and export facilitation activities, and in regional value chains. Banyan Global seeks a Gender and Trade Show Capacity-Building Consutlant to provide technical support to selected women entrepreneurs from the Southern Africa Region to enhance their participation in regional trade and export activities. Specifically, the Consultant will assist the women entrepreneurs to skillfully and productively participate in trade shows. The Consultant will further be expected to develop training and technical assistance materials establishing a methodology for continuing to enhance the trade show participation of women businesses. More

Linking research and public policies in Latin America

November 2010
Regional conference discusses linkages between knowledge-based policymaking, democracy and development More

Inclusive and sustainable growth for human development - EU Development Days 2012

October 2012
Dates: 15-16 October 2012 Type of event: Conference Location: Brussels, Belgium and online (live webcasts) Organization: EU Commission More information: http://eudevdays.eu/ The seventh edition of the European Development Days (EDD 2012) will focus on the theme of sustainable and inclusive growth for human development, with three related sub-themes: - sustainable agriculture, food security and resilience; - engaging the private sector for development; and - empowering people for inclusive growth. Live web-streaming of all sessions taking place in the four main high level panels each day will be available online at http://live.eudevdays.eu/ in French, English and the original language of the speakers. More

Brazil launches online multistakeholder dialogues for Rio+20

April 2012
The Government of Brazil, as host of the June 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), has opened nine online thematic "Sustainable Development Dialogues" to generate ideas and set the stage for the civil society discussions to be held in Rio de Janeiro from 16-19 June 2012, immediately preceding UNCSD. The Dialogues are grouped under the following themes: oceans; food and nutritional security; sustainable development for fighting poverty; sustainable development as an answer to the economic and financial crises; sustainable energy for all; water; the economics of sustainable development; sustainable cities and innovation; and unemployment, decent work and migration. More

Tracking health workers in Botswana

August 2011
In June 2011, Botswana's Ministry of Health began partnering with CapacityPlus to implement iHRIS Manage, a free, open source software (OSS) designed to maintain information on health worker deployment and attrition. CapacityPlus is a USAID-funded global project that focuses on strengthening human resources to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The goal of the Botswana programme is to track all health workers in the country, what districts they work in, and what cadre they belong to, in order to ensure that the right provider is at the right place with the right skills. More

Enterprise Development through Value Chains and Business Service Markets: A Market Development approach to Pro-Poor Growth

November 2011
Dates: Various, starts on 19th March 2012 Type of event: Distance learning programme (Please note that this is a paid course with some funding possibilities) Location: Global, with a Face-to-Face workshop scheduled for 18 - 29 June 2012 in Turin, Italy Organization: The International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation (ITC ILO) This 8-month course is relevant for professionals developing and implementing Value Chain and enterprise development projects in rural and urban areas. It offers a unique on-the-job learning opportunity using practical tools and lessons from enterprise development programs that have reached thousands of small enterprises in rural and urban areas. More

Capacity.org Issue 44 on Markets, smallholders and empowerment published

March 2012
With the global population expected to rise to 9 billion by 2050, there has been growing attention at the highest policy circles to the contribution of small-scale agriculture to food security and poverty eradication. However, the creation of an enabling framework towards this end has been hampered by contradictory approaches and policy ''pendulum swings" over the past few decades that have seen national and international efforts focus alternately on 'rights-based' and 'market-based' support strategies. Issue 44 of Capacity.org aims to refocus attention on the critical but largely neglected issue of producer agency: that is, the capacity of producers to make informed choices, and to act on those choices. More

Upcoming MDF training courses

September 2012
MDF is a global training and consultancy agency, headquartered in the Netherlands with branches in Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Vietnam, in Brussels, Belgium, DR Congo, Ghana, Colombia and Indonesia. MDF organises numerous courses each year focused covering the following broad areas of capacity development: enhancing competencies of staff members; assisting organisations to improve their performance; maximising the impact of partnerships and network; and sustainable results in projects and programmes. Upcoming courses (October - December 2012) Monitoring and Evaluation: 03 – 05 October Leadership & Managing Human Resources: 15 – 19 October Outcome Mapping and Most Significant Change: 29 October – 01 November Change Management and Leadership: 12 – 14 November More

Towards universal health coverage in Cambodia

August 2012
Ensuring equity and affordable access to health care for all without incurring catastrophic financial consequences—universal health care coverage— has been identified as a key health policy goal (WHO 2010). By strengthening financial protection through addressing the three main health financing functions— revenue collection, pooling of resources and purchasing of services—all countries can move towards universal coverage. A new Working Paper from the Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne identifies institutional and health financing design barriers to establishing a national agency, as well as policy solutions. More

Innovative strategies for facilitating vertical linkages with very poor producers (Webinar)

January 2013
Date: 21 February 2013 Type of event: Webinar Location: Online/Global Organization: USAID/SEEP Network More information: http://www.seepnetwork.org/webinar-2--innovative-strategies-for-facilitating-vertical-linkages-with-very-poor-producers-events-52.php This is the second of three webinars in the “Integrating Very Poor Producers Into Value Chains Field Guide” series, an initiative of the SEEP Network Market Facilitation Initiative and STEP UP Initiative. The objective of the Field Guide is to provide guidance to frontline field development practitioners on how to better integrate very poor producers into value chains. More

Capacity building and conflict resolution project manager, Jordan

February 2013
Contracting organization: Human Relief Foundation Location: Amman, Jordan Application deadline: 9 February 2013 Type/duration of assignment: One year consultancy More information: http://reliefweb.int/job/554563/capacity-building-project-manager-jordan Human Relief Foundation (HRF) is an international NGO seeking to promote sustainable economic and social development by working with local communities through relief and development programmes, as well as supporting people in need to build a better life and find their own solutions to local and global problems. We are currently looking for a project manager/technical consultant to manage a EuropeAid funded project providing capacity building in peacebuilding to Jordanian NGOs. More

Monitoring and Evaluating When Facing Complexity: Perspectives From a Practitioner-Led Initiative

April 2013
Date: 25 April 2013 Type of event: Webinar Location: Global/Online Organization: USAID/Microlinks More information: http://bit.ly/14IDzDm Changes in markets are not predictable and often surprising, even after thorough market analysis and strategic planning. This creates specific challenges for monitoring and evaluation of development interventions. The webinar session will feature insights from the SEEP Network’s Systemic M&E Initiative, a practitioner-led initiative supported by USAID and fhi360 that has been exploring innovative ways to monitor and evaluate interventions in market and financial systems. More

Introduction to Sensemaker decision-making tool

April 2013
Dates: Flexible (Registration deadline 26 April) Type of event: Online training course (3 months) Location: Global/Online Organization: Cognitive Edge More information: http://cognitive-edge.com/education/events/680/introduction-to-sensemaker-environment/ This is a self-paced introduction to SenseMaker® - a technique for dealing with uncertainty and complexity - as applied to team, organizational, marketplace or environment issues and opportunities. While it is not facilitator-led, participants will have opportunities to learn from and collaborate online with others. The course materials consist of a series of specially made videos, podcasts and documents that take learners through the process of working with SenseMaker®, introduce the important terms and key concepts, and illustrate typical results. More

Foundation - Kellog International Leadership Programme in Africa

November 2010
In 1989, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation launched its Kellog International Leadership Programme, to connect leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean, the United States and Southern Africa. More

The Collective Leadership Institute

November 2010
The Collective Leadership Institute (CLI) is an independent non-profit organization based in Germany and South Africa that works to build dialogic process competence for cross-sector sustainability engagement. More

Mapping Dialogue: Dialogue Tools and Processes for Social Change

November 2010
This is a document from a research project profiling dialogue tools and processes for social change More

Training Institute - BRAC University

November 2010
BRAC University was founed by the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) in 2001 in line with the NGO's continued support to education as a force of change and development. More

Institute of Development Studies (IDS) - Organizational learning and change

November 2010
This link takes you directly to the organizational learning and change webpage of the IDS from which you can browse through the different sections and themes and find a wide range of related publications. More

VACANCY: Policy Advisor, Capacity Development

August 2011
The UNDP Capacity Development Group (CDG) in New York is looking for a policy advisor to work on the national implementation capacities portfolio. CDG is UNDP’s source of in-house expertise for optimizing the impact of development interventions through capacity development. The incumbent will be responsible for the following functions: policy development and advisory services; project team management and results management; practice advocacy; and knowledge management. NB: The application deadline has been extended to 24 October More

Islands of integrity: Identifying positive outliers

March 2012
Why have some public organizations or sectors seen a reduction in corruption (or a greater reduction than might be expected) while others have not? What explains the differences across or within countries and sectors? What are the political processes that drive corruption reduction and what policy lessons can be learned from studying cases where it has happened? This paper, the first in a series on this topic, is part of a project that seeks to try to answer those questions, and is being undertaken by the Developmental Leadership Program (DLP) in conjunction with Transparency International (TI). The paper outlines the way in which a ‘long list’ of cases has been identified by a careful statistical analysis of TI’s Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) More

ECB interactive learning series

October 2011
Dates: Various, November 2011 to February 2012 Type of event: Online conference series Location: Global Organization: Emergency Capacity Building Project (ECB) ECB inter-active is a series of five regional events in Africa, Asia and South America that will share ECB Project learning for the first time across the humanitarian sector. The aim is to share experiences of capacity building and understand more about the ECB Project's innovative approaches for successful collaboration and joint action. Participants will be drawn from government, UN, humanitarian networks, NGOs, donors, and inter-governmental agencies. Each event will include a series of inter-active learning opportunities focused on the core themes of National Staff Capacity Building, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Accountability to beneficiaries. More

Best Practices, Lessons Learned, and Effective Tools in Knowledge Sharing for Food Security and Agriculture Programmes

March 2012
Date: 20-22 April 2012 Type of event: Online discussion Location: Online, global Organization: USAID Bureau for Food Security More information: http://agrilinks.kdid.org/groups/agexchange-knowledge-sharing Capturing, sharing, and applying knowledge is inherent in everything we do. From recognizing an approach that worked well in the field to sharing that approach with a colleague, effective knowledge management enables practitioners to learn from one another to implement more efficient and sustainable programs. This online discussion will bring together a diverse group of donors, food security technical experts, and knowledge management professionals for a three-day online discussion. Good practice, learning, and areas for future collaboration raised during the discussion will be synthesized into a resource document available to the Agrilinks community. More

Eldis governance assessments CDROM now available: Request your free copy!

March 2012
Since 2008 the Eldis project at IDS Knowledge Services has hosted an online resource library, The Eldis Governance Assessments dossier as part of a long-term partnership with the UNDP Global Programme on Democratic Governance Assessments. To mark the end of this collaboration Eldis collated a selection of documents from the library on to a CDROM. The disc contains over 200 resources from a range of different experts, institutions and organisations that work in the field of governance assessments. It is designed to provide detailed, practical information drawing upon evidence about what works, and identifying innovations in approaches, policy and practice. Eldis is trying to identify potential users for the CDROMs by means of a short survey (click here to download) below. Please fill in the form and send it by email to j.collodi@ids.ac.uk More

Eldis governance assessments CDROM now available: Request your free copy!

March 2012
Since 2008 the Eldis project at IDS Knowledge Services has hosted an online resource library, The Eldis Governance Assessments dossier as part of a long-term partnership with the UNDP Global Programme on Democratic Governance Assessments. To mark the end of this collaboration Eldis collated a selection of documents from the library on to a CDROM. The disc contains over 200 resources from a range of different experts, institutions and organisations that work in the field of governance assessments. It is designed to provide detailed, practical information drawing upon evidence about what works, and identifying innovations in approaches, policy and practice. Eldis is trying to identify potential users for the CDROMs by means of a short survey (click here to download). If you would like to receive a copy, or to nominate possible beneficiaries, please fill in the questionnaire and send it by email to Jason Collodi, Eldis Governance Editor (j.collodi@ids.ac.uk). More

Monitoring & Evaluation Regional Specialist, PATH

March 2012
Contracting organization: PATH Location: New Delhi, India Application Deadline: Unspecified Type/duration of assignment: Staff position More information: http://hostedjobs.openhire.com/epostings/submit.cfm?fuseaction=app.welcome&category_id=24936&company_id=15780&version=1&startflag=2&parent=Asia%3B%3B%3BPublic%20Health&levelid2=24936 PATH (http://www.path.org/) is seeking a Monitoring & Evaluation Regional Specialist to further the M&E Department’s goal of strengthening Monitoring & Evaluation capacity to measure and learn from results across PATH’s global and field programs. The M&E Regional Specialist will work with the M&E Department to design and provide capacity building opportunities through formal workshops and existing work opportunities to improve the knowledge base and regional capacity to use proven M&E practices and approaches. More

LenCD seeks network coordinator

April 2012
Contracting organization: UNDP Location: Home-based Application Deadline: 20 April 2012 Type/duration of assignment: 6 months (initial contract) More information: http://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=29462 Established in 2004 to raise the contour of capacity development on the international policy agenda, the Learning Network on Capacity Development (LenCD) is an informal network aimed at supporting the emerging global community of practice around capacity development, by promoting exchange of knowledge, experience and approaches among practitioners. Under the guidance of the LenCD steering group, and with the administrative support of the LenCD project manager, the LenCD coordinator will be responsible for moving the LenCD agenda forward and to facilitate the implementation of the work streams agreed by the steering group, as reflected in the LenCD work plan. More

Towards universal health coverage in Cambodia

August 2012
There is widespread support in Cambodia for greater integration of demand-side health financing schemes for the poor and the informal sector to improve access to health care and reduce the burden of health expenditure. Operation of these schemes by government, donor bodies and various international and local non-government organisations has resulted in a fragmented system with high overhead costs, high monitoring and evaluation costs and complex reporting requirements. Institutional and operational barriers to strengthening universal coverage in Cambodia: options for policy development, a Working Paper published by the Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne, identifies institutional and health financing design barriers to establishing a national agency, as well as policy solutions. More

Virtual course on effective networks

September 2012
Dates: 01 October - 14 December 2012 Type of event: Training course (please note that this is a paid course) Location: Online/worldwide Organization: The Network University and NetworkingAction More information: http://networks.netuni.nl/page.php?id=1 "Effective networks" is the topic of three sets of three-week virtual training modules organized in partnership between The Network University and NetworkingAction. The course will cover a variety of networking forms, including networks that comprise as their main “unit” individuals or organizations; single-sector (business-government-civil society) or cross-sector; local, national, regional or global. Participants will learn core concepts and tools to support development of networks’ effectiveness. To register for the course, please click here or send an email to: networks@netuni.nl More

Consultant: Developing adaptive capacity for climate change adaptation, Lliberia

November 2012
Contracting organization: UNDP/GEF Location: Monrovia, Liberia Application deadline: 23 November 2012 Type/duration of assignment: International Consultant, 8 weeks More information: http://emansion.gov.lr/doc/TORCCMCDPlanConsultantInternationalInc.pdf In 2011 the Government of Liberia (GoL) through the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed a Global Environment Facility (GEF) Agreement to implement this Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) project titled: “Enhancing Resilience to Climate Change by Mainstreaming Adaptation Concerns into Agriculture Sector Development in Liberia”. The 4-year project will be a vehicle for implementing priority interventions for the agriculture sector identified in Liberia’s National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA). Among other tasks, the consultant will be expected to: prepare an Inception Report; development and review a Climate Change Management (Climate Risk Management) Needs Assessment for the Agriculture Sector; and develop and review an implementation manual for the Ministry of Agriculture. More

Strengthening agricultural services for smallholders

January 2013
Date: 30 January 2013 (15:30 - 17:00 CET) Type of event: Webinar Location: Online/Global Organization: USAID/Agrilinks Network More information: http://bit.ly/VM7llX One of the most difficult challenges for smallholder farmers is finding a reliable source of high quality agricultural inputs, such as seed, fertilizer, farm equipment, veterinary supplies and services, and sustainable extension services. Access to these farm services directly results in higher quality and quantity farm production, which in turn yields higher profits and promotes increased on-farm production. However, smallholder farmers often have to travel far to get inputs, pay high prices for them and face limited choices in input availability. This Agrilinks webinar will address the benefits of private sector input supply systems and how these systems are increasing smallholders' production, incomes, and livelihoods. More

Upcoming training courses in East Africa (MDF)

January 2013
MDF is a global training and consultancy agency, headquartered in the Netherlands with branches in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The MDF Eastern and Southern Africa office is organizing the following courses in the first half of 2013. Please note that course fees apply Organisational development and change: 11-15 February, Arusha, Tanzania Result-based management: 11-15 March, Arusha, Tanzania Monitoring & Evaluation and Learning: 18-22 March, Arusha, Tanzania Programme Planning form a Livelihood Perspective: 1-5 April 2013, Nairobi, Kenya Outcome mapping: 15-17 April 2013, Arusha, Tanzania Financial management for non-financial managers: 5-10 May, Arusha, Tanzania Leadership and people management: 13-17 May, Arusha, Tanzania Project and programme management: 10-21 June, Arusha, Tanzania For more information and a full overview of all courses offered in 2013, please visit the MDF-ESA website. More

Training on landscape approaches to spatial planning and decision making: Deadline for scholarship applications

April 2013
Dates: 18-29 November 2013 (NB: Deadline for applying for NFP scholarchip is 7 Mayl) Type of event: Training course Location: Bangkok, Thailand Organization: Centre for Development Innovation, Wageningen University/ RECOFTC Centre for Forests and People, Bangkok More information: http://www.recoftc.org/site/resources/Landscape-Functions-and-People.php Adopting a landscape perspective to spatial planning and decision making offers new space for negotiation and collaboration, taking into account the needs of local resource users, and of the global community. Spatial planners and natural resources managers are increasingly operating as facilitators of such negotiation processes on the ground. During this course we will help them to examine landscape dynamics, and analyse conflicts arising from overlapping land use. Moreover, we will enhance their ability to mediate in conflict, facilitate negotiation processes, and create space for multi-stakeholder collaboration within forested landscapes. More

Training Institute - British Council InterAction Leadership Programme

November 2010
First conceived through discussions between leadership professionals from Ethiopia, Uganda, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Nigeria, and guided by British Council partners Questions of Difference and LEAD International, the InterAction Leadership Programme is a pan-African initiative to connect and inspire up-and-coming leaders throughout Africa, providing them with opportunities to share, learn and network with each other. More

Barefoot Guide to working with organizations and social change

November 2010
This practical, do-it-yourself guide is aimed at leaders and facilitators wanting to help civil society organizations to function and to develop in more healthy, human and effective ways as they strive to make their contributions to a more humane society. More

Call for proposals: Capacity development learning initiative

November 2010
Capacity development is a critical. Yet making it one that is systematically addressed in development practice is a challenge. The UNDP’S Capacity Development Learning Initiative (LenCD) aims at supporting local or regional stakeholders to move their capacity development agenda forward in a specific sector or thematic context. More

Communicating health research

November 2010
Stronger links between researchers, policy makers and practitioners and increased Southern research capacity are the keys to relevant evidence being taken up… More

“On Being a Scientist”: Third Edition

November 2009
This book describes the ethical foundations of scientific practices and some of the personal and professional issues that researchers encounter in their work. It applies to all forms of research--whether in academic, industrial, or governmental settings-and to all scientific disciplines. More

Research4Development (R4D), UK

November 2010
R4D is the portal to the UK Department for International Development (DFID) centrally funded research. It provides up-to-date information on DFID's current research portfolio. More

Protecting small producers in agricultural markets

November 2010
Implementing Physical and Virtual Food Reserves to Protect the Poor and Prevent Market Failure More

Towards fairer trade: Farmers' experiences

November 2010
With the continued expansion of markets for fair and green trade products, LEISA Magazine revisits some of the debates surrounding this topic and highlights farmer experiences. More

Virtual evaluation writeshop 2011

May 2011
BetterEvaluation - a new interactive web facility that allows those dealing with evaluations as designers, commissioners or implementers to make informed methodological choices - seeks participants for its first-ever "Virtual Writeshop" on evaluation, to run between May and September 2011. Interested evaluation professionals with experience in diverse aspects of evaluation - including design, collection, sensemaking and reporting - are invited to participate. More

Virtual evaluation writeshop 2011

May 2011
BetterEvaluation - a new interactive web facility that allows those dealing with evaluations as designers, commissioners or implementers to make informed methodological choices - seeks participants for its first-ever "Virtual Writeshop" on evaluation, to run between May and September 2011. Interested evaluation professionals with experience in diverse aspects of evaluation - including design, collection, sensemaking and reporting - are invited to participate. More

Making policy research more accountable

December 2010
Making policy research more accountable The One World Trust, with support from the IDRC, has created an interactive, online database of tools to help organizations conducting policy relevant research become more accountable. More

IMF launches Institute for Capacity Development

May 2012
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has merged its technical assistance and training activities to form a new department, the Institute for Capacity Development. The new Institute aims to strengthen synergies and better coordination between IMF technical assistance, training, and other elements of capacity development, to enable member countries to develop their skills base and build more robust economic and financial institutions. Seven Regional Training Centers and training programmes in Austria, Brazil, China, India, Kuwait, Singapore, and Tunisia will supplement training offered at IMF headquarters and enable the IMF to adapt its training to local needs. More

Practitioner toolkit for strengthening internet public policy dialogue

September 2012
Published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) in September 2012, this toolkit provides guidance on how to develop new policy dialogue forums or processes, jump-start stagnant ones, or define baseline data for further research that will help to develop dynamic and nuanced policy spaces. The authors draw on a case study of Togo to illustrate how multi-stakeholder dialogue can identify priorities and challenges for the development and deployment of the Internet in support of a country’s economic, social and environmental needs. More

Capacity development advisor, South Sudan

February 2013
Contracting organization: Pact Location: Juba, South Sudan Application deadline: Not specified Type/duration of assignment: Staff position (subject to funding availability) More information: https://www5.ultirecruit.com/PAC1005/JobBoard/JobDetails.aspx?__ID=*35F185A8B219063C Pact requires applications from the eligible applicants for the position of Capacity Development Advisor. Excellent interpersonal skills, including mentoring and communication skills are required. More

Upgrading in rural value chains

February 2013
This book explores the place of poor people within a rich variety of value chains, focusing upon lagging, rural regions in Africa and Asia, and how they can “upgrade” within such chains. Upgrading is a key concept for value chain analysis and refers to the acquisition of technological capabilities and market linkages that enable firms to improve their competitiveness and move into higher-value activities. More

Monitoring and evaluation consultant, Haiti

March 2013
Contracting organization: Management Sciences for Health/USAID Location: Haiti Application deadline: Not specified Type/duration of assignment: Short term consultancy, starting mid-April 2013 More information: To apply, please send a resume and a brief cover letter confirming availability to acollins@msh.org MSH seeks a consultant for the USAID-funded Haiti Leadership, Management, and Governance Project. One of the objectives of the project is to accelerate access to quality health services through health strengthening approaches that increase the Government of Haiti’s ability to manage its funding sources and that link the Haitian population to functional referral networks. More

Practice, evidence and policy

November 2010
The Learning Network on Capacity Development (LenCD) is an informal network of analysts and practitioners aimed at creating a global community of practice around capacity development. The network was established in 2004 and has grown steadily since. At a strategy meeting in Washington DC in December 2008 a steering group was put in place and a three-year strategy was determined. The strategy consists of two main initiatives. The first is to support the aid effectiveness agenda, and the implementation of the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA), which will remain a major anchor for network activity. Second, LenCD will maintain a more conducive platform for CD learning. The CD Learning Initiative is focused on ‘closing the learning loops’, which means to ‘bring back’ lessons from diverse practices on the ground, to distil, broaden and disseminate evidence, and to inform policy in concrete terms. In the months ahead, LenCD will put in place the instruments and operational underpinnings to make it happen. Regional and thematic working groups will convene around common agendas. By its very nature LenCD is a partnership effort, and your ideas and engagement are welcome. More

Capacity.org Issue 45 on adapting to climate change published

June 2012
Agricultural smallholders and pastoralists whose livelihoods depend on natural resource bases that are already severely stressed and degraded are among the groups most affected by the unpredictable impacts of climate change. Drawing on experience in Asia and Africa, the June 2012 issue of Capacity.org journal provides some insights for practitioners on how to effectively meet the needs of the most vulnerable communities. The contributions aim to shed light on two broad questions: 1. Adaptation to what? The global effects of climate change may be clear in terms of increase in temperature and rising sea levels but the local effects are far less predictable to the extent that some regions may even benefit from the consequences of climate change. What are some reliable sources for communities find out the types of changes they can expect? 2. Which factors determine a community’s adaptation capacity how can actors including local governments and NGOs intervene to enhance the resilience of local communities to the effects of climate change? Read the issue online Download Issue 45 (PDF, 700 kb) More

Managing 'wicked problems' in agribusiness: the role of multistakeholder partnerships

January 2013
The International Food and Agribusiness Management Review has published the second part of a special issue of the journal addressing the topic "Managing Wicked Problems in Agribusiness: The Role of Multi-Stakeholder Engagements in Value Creation." Introducing the Special Issue (Volume 15, Issue B, 2012) the editors Domenico Dentoni and Otto Hospes (Wageningen University) and R. Brent Ross (Michigan State University) define 'wicked problems' as "... issues which are highly complex, have innumerable and undefined causes, and are difficult to understand and frame. They result in outcomes that are either uncertain or unknowable, and often affect multiple stakeholders throughout the agri-food system and beyond." More

New research project to promote evidence-based policymaking in agriculture and trade

November 2010
More

The importance of public awareness

October 2010
The developed country model for building capacity in water supply, sanitation and hygiene is inadequate for Asia, Africa and Latin America. Developing countries require a different approach. More

Inaugural Africa Capacity Indicators Report published

April 2011
The 2011 Africa Capacity Indicators Report (ACIR) is the new flagship publication of the African Capacity Building Foundation. It aims to track the evolution of African capacity across space and time. The report builds upon and augments the existing body of knowledge to help optimize the use of capacity development strategies, with particular attention to Africa's post-conflict states. More

High level retreat for African mediators

November 2011
Dates: 23-25 November 2011 Type of event: Informal consultations (invitation only) Location: Zanzibar, Tanzania Organization: Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue This ‘Africa Mediators’ Retreat’, co-hosted with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation, will bring together around 40 mediators, peace process actors, government representatives and key experts active in mediation as well as in conflict prevention and resolution in Africa. Participants will share their experiences, identify challenges and critically reflect on their practice in an informal setting (Chatham House rules). More

State of the Humanitarian System, 2012

July 2012
The Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance (ALNAP) recently launched the 2012 edition of its landmark State of the Humanitarian System Report. The 2012 report presents a system-level mapping and analysis of the performance of international humanitarian assistance. It draws on interviews with hundreds of aid workers, donors and aid recipients to create an authentic snapshot of the vast, shifting mass of agencies, donors, governments and affected populations that are part of the humanitarian community. A unique element is the interviews carried out with aid recipients in four countries to find out how they perceive the international humanitarian community. The full report as well as a short animated video outlining its key messages can be downloaded at: http://www.alnap.org/ourwork/current/sohs.aspx. 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

Context matters

October 2010
GUEST COLUMN A spectre is haunting donors – the spectre of insignificance. Once the world seemed to be on a rather straight path towards universal well-being: donors could provide investments to boost the economy (1960 and1970s), or pay attention to basic needs (1980s) or press for market and fiscal policy reforms (1990s). Today, donors herald the virtues of target-driven comprehensive planning with a focus on social sectors, embodied in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs). These efforts throughout the decades have been accompanied by mountains of training and technical assistance aimed at developing capacity. 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

Monitoring and evaluation advisor, health (Liberia)

April 2013
Contracting organization: International Rescue Committee (IRC) Location: Liberia Application deadline: 31 May 2013 Type/duration of assignment: Permanent staff position (NB: Position is contingent upon funding availability) More information: http://ch.tbe.taleo.net/CH02/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=IRC&cws=1&rid=9166 The IRC has been present in Liberia since 1996 and supports hospitals and primary health care facilities across three counties. The M&E Advisor will contribute to a forecasted project focusing on providing support to integrated community-level health services and activities. More

Capacity for conservation

October 2010
For IUCN – the World Conservation Union, building capacity for conservation is more important than simply building staff capacity for itself. Jeffrey McNeely traces the development of the regional programme IUCN in Asia. 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

The challenge of political empowerment

March 2012
Economic empowerment must be complemented by political empowerment In the struggle over ideas in the development arena, terms that are associated with more radical perspectives are often picked up by mainstream actors and organisations. And this has been the case with ‘empowerment’. But such mainstreaming can cause original meanings to be modified or become obscure. From the perspective of strategies that aim to improve the well-being of small-scale farmers, there are various risks inherent in the way the term ‘empowerment’ has been taken up by international and bilateral development agencies. 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

Sustainable intensification: A new paradigm for food security and community resilience in Africa

May 2013
While the concept of "sustainable intensification" is viewed by some as a cynical attempt to promote industrial-scale agriculture, there is a growing international counter-movement that aims to demonstrate that intensification can also be driven by small-scale and sustainable farming systems. Falling squarely in the second camp is the Montpellier Panel, an international group of experts whose latest report aims to offer "a practical pathway towards the goal of producing more food with less impact on the environment." More

Editorial: Strengthening health systems

May 2011
Many developing countries have health systems that are ailing – and well-intentioned development aid is contributing to the problem. Between 2000 and 2010, annual development assistance for health surged from US$10.5 billion to US$27 billion. Most of this was channelled through donor-driven programmes targeted at specific diseases, most prominently HIV/AIDS. Such ‘vertical’ programming has undermined the development of strong national health systems and drawn resources away from countries’ other health priorities. More

Organisational learning for aid, and learning aid organisations

October 2010
Although many aid agencies claim to be learning organisations, a recent review found that they still need to address some major challenges, especially at field level. Ben Ramalingam asks why this is the case, and what aid agencies can do to learn more effectively. More

Evidence-based policies

October 2010
It is common to think that academic researchers and aid practitioners cannot communicate because they live in different worlds. The former are said to be concerned with formulating theories regardless of the complexities and contradictions of the evidence, while the latter are mandated to implement internationally sanctioned practical policies that are intended to improve lives. Each asks why the other doesn’t understand how difficult their job is. 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

The way forward

October 2010
In the 1970s and early 1980s, many developing countries invested substantial amounts in education and research. Some academic centres reached promising levels of scientific excellence. The University of Khartoum in Sudan, for example, was one of the best universities in the developing world. 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

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

Producer organisations and the food crisis

October 2010
The International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) represents over 600 million farm families. Former IFAP president Jack Wilkinson talks to Capacity.org about the role of producer organisations in addressing the food crisis. 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

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

The strength of partnerships

October 2010
African institutions for public accountability Africans are not recognized for the work they do to promote social accountability in their countries. A new pan-African platform allows them to share their experiences, learn new techniques and disseminate information, and encourages new initiatives. 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

ICTs, capacities and networks

October 2010
This article considers the collective capabilities of networks in relation to their use of ICTs, information and knowledge management. ICTs can enable networks and their members to achieve their aims more effectively, and are often part of the ‘offer’ that a network makes to its members. More

Nurturing leaders from within

October 2010
AsiaDHRRA is a regional network that offers an extensive leadership development programme for the leaders of its partners in ten countries. Lany Rebagay explains the formal training, informal approaches and the tools that have been developed as part of the programme. More

Learning for effective advocacy

October 2010
Advocacy campaigning requires continuous organisational learning. In particular, allies need to learn about each other’s interests, expectations and commitments. Laura Roper explains how to facilitate such a learning process. 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 case for local capacity developers

October 2010
Local expertise to support people and organisations in developing their capacities is arguably one of the most valuable resources a society can have to boost development. More

Building cross-sector partnerships

October 2010
Can partnerships between public, business and civil society organisations be more effective than single-sector initiatives in addressing the challenges of sustainable development? For any organisation that decides to venture into cross-sector partnerships, The Partnering Toolbook is a good place to start. 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

Participatory video for monitoring and evaluation

October 2010
Participatory video lends itself well to project monitoring and evaluation. Chris Lunch, director of Insight, describes how communities are using video to capture and interpret stories of significant change. More

Making contract farming work with cooperatives

October 2010
The World Development Report 2008 is optimistic that contract farming can help reduce poverty. For it to succeed, producer organisations must play a big role. 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

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

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

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

What future for Vietnamese bamboo?

March 2012
Government intervention – essential for an enabling environment In eastern China, thousands of smallholders generate substantial incomes from bamboo. But across the border in Vietnam where conditions are, if anything, more favourable, smallholders are moving out of bamboo. An opportunity will go to waste here unless local authorities take the initiative. More

Bringing climate models to Indian communities

June 2012
A first in the field Seva Mandir, a non-governmental voluntary organisation working in Rajasthan, India joined hands with ICCO and scientists from the Dutch institute Alterra to find out what climate change impacts lie in store for the region. More

Inter-organisational learning in South African education

January 2013
The importance of defining outcomes The questions practitioners repeatedly face when facilitating inter-organisational learning processes are: what does collaboration precisely mean and what are its goals? How pragmatic is collaboration? And is it indeed the answer or merely a layer of additional complexity? This is particularly relevant in the South African context where the country’s successes – such as the transition from apartheid and the 2010 World Cup – are seen as examples of collaboration. In reality, however, these successes seem to be more the exception than the norm, and the complexity of collaboration and resulting inter-organisational learning is severely underestimated. More

Changing from the inside out

October 2010
Based on extensive field research and recent publications, Rick James concludes that leadership development is both feasible and crucial for capacity development. But the process is complex, messy, and requires the combined use of a variety of methods. More

NGOs provoke trade policy change

October 2010
Since the mid-1990s, when trade policy was understood by only a few experts, NGO campaigns have done a lot to increase the public exposure and awareness of trade issues. 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

What it takes

December 2010
Competencies needed to design and facilitate MSPs Multi-stakeholder processes (MSPs) are playing an increasingly important role in sustainable development. Designing and facilitating MSPs depends on a set of diverse competencies. More

Dilemmas and directions

October 2010
How can donors and their partners support sustainable capacity development in fragile states? This article addresses key issues and dilemmas that members of the international community confront in answering this question. More

Impact of research on policy and practice

October 2010
It is difficult to feed research-based evidence into policy and practice. This article discusses which capacities need to be strengthened to increase the impact of research on policy. More

Transformative adaptation

June 2012
Communities responding to climate change Most adaptation strategies focus on coping with climate change effects. But adaptation involves much more than simply putting a plaster over a scratch – it requires transformative thinking and change. More

Enhancing resilience through dialogue

June 2012
Bridging gaps between providers and users of science Vulnerable communities as well as supporting agencies often do not understand ‘the language’ of weather and climate scientists. As a result, scientific information often fails to trigger or inform community action. Innovative methods have been developed to overcome this communication gap. More