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Governance
The most well-formulated capacity development intervention will flounder in the face of an unsupportive institutional environment. Witness the slow pace of reconstruction in areas hit by natural disasters and other humanitarian crises, even when abundant financial, logistical and technical resources may be on offer from the international community. To bring about sustainable change, capacity development practitioners need to navigate an array of external and internal factors that determine current capacity and influence the prospects for further improvements.
Governance comprises the "mechanisms, processes and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences." (UNDP 1996). In this context, good governance is the creation of an economic, political and social environment that is participatory, transparent and accountable, effective, equitable and that promotes the rule of law. Furthermore, good governance "ensures that political, social and economic priorities are based on broad consensus in society and that the voices of the poorest and the most vulnerable are heard in decision-making over the allocation of development resources.".
This section focuses on highlighting existing analytical frameworks and approaches to help practitioners in incorporating the governance dimension in their work.
Featured Article
Easypol: Resources for policymakers
Easypol is the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO's) multilingual repository of freely
downloadable policymaking resources in agriculture, rural development and food security.
The resources focus on policy findings, methodological tools and capacity development and can
be downloaded for free.
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Recent Articles
Report of national stakeholder consultations on water in the post-2015 development agenda
23 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).
Engaging communities in identifying beneficiaries of pro-poor programmes
13 May 2013
One of the main challenges countries face in effectively targeting social safety net
programmes is correctly identifying the poorest households. This January 2013 Brief highlights a
study by MIT's Poverty Action Lab that compared community-based methods of selecting who qualifies
for a cash transfer programme with proxy means tests. The study found that while participatory
methods were less accurate overall, they greatly improved local satisfaction and better matched the
poor’s own concept of poverty.
Building institutional capacity in South Sudan through triangular cooperation
09 May 2013
This policy brief from the Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre highlights experiences from a regional capacity development initiative in Eastern Africa coordinated by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). The project brings civil servant support officers (CSSOs) from neighbouring countries and twins them with counterparts in various government ministries in South Sudan, with the aim of rapidly develop core government capacity in a coaching and mentoring scheme.
MoreSustainable intensification: A new paradigm for food security and community resilience in Africa
08 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."
Africa Capacity Indicators 2013 report published
02 April 2013
The 2013 edition of the Africa Capacity Indicators Report (ACIR) on the theme
Capacity Development for Natural Resources Management was launched in March 2013. The
report focuses on what African countries need to do individually and collectively to effectively
manage the continent's nautral resource wealth. Like the previous two editions, the Africa
Capacity Index ranks the performance of 44 African countries according to four key clusters of
capacity: the policy environment; processes for implementation; development results at the country
level; and capacity development outcomes.
The governance of scaling up: Identifying key elements in successful sustainability practices
06 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.
Other Topics
Essential Readings
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Nils Boesen (2010), Institutions, Power and Politics: Looking for change beyond the boundaries, the formal and the functional, in Ubels, J., N. Acquaye-Baddoo and A. Fowler (eds) Capacity Development in Practice, Earthscan, pp. 145-156
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Resource Corner on Enabling Environment - Incentive Systems, Drivers of Change, Political Context (LenCD)
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Scaling up local and community driven development: A real world guide to its theory and practice (World Bank, 2009)
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World Governance Indicators 1996-2009
Featured Community
Participatory Governance Exchange
PG Exchange is a global online platform for knowledge
development, sharing and learning on participatory governance (PG). An initiative of CIVICUS:
World Alliance for Citizen Participation, the aim of the platform is to empower citizens to
participate in processes of public decision-making that affect their lives. The platform brings
together a global community of participatory governance practitioners and experts through a
variety of online discussion groups. Among the resources available on the PG Exchange portal are a
wide range of participatory governance practices and tools and an online calendar of participatory
governance events around the globe. Click
here to join the community of practice
and/or learn more.
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