People Matter: An introduction to capacity development

The term capacity development gained prominence in the 1990s, in part due to the growing realization that providing technical solutions and/or funding are not sufficient in themselves to address most development challenges. This led to a renewed focus on the underlying human and organizational capabilities that need to be strengthened, through working more closely with the individuals, organizations and societies that were the intended beneficiaries of development support. As a conceptual approach,  capacity development was also linked to the search for viable alternatives to the dominant 'top-down' aid model, by refocusing attention on the crucial role of local professionals and support structures (both governmental and non-governmental)  in driving sustainable development.

Capacity development has been described variously as: “the ability [of an organization] to function as a resilient, strategic and autonomous entity” (Kaplan, 1999); “the ability of people, organizations and society as a whole to manage their affairs successfully” (OECD, 2006); or “the ability of a human system to perform, sustain itself and self-renew” (Ubels et al, Earthscan/SNV, 2010).

The emergence of the capacity development as a distinct field of thinking and practice has gone hand in hand with advances in human resources - and institutional – development, and can be distinguished by five important strands:

  • training and human resources development
  • participatory approaches
  • organizational development
  • policy and institutional development
  • multi-actor processes and systems

The ‘essential readings’ section on the right, together with the specific literature provided in each topic page, are carefully selected in order to equip practitioners with a good overview of:  

  • definitions of capacity and its development;
  • frameworks and models for understanding capacity development;
  • the intervention repertoire (approaches, methods, tools, roles, attitudes) used in capacity development;
  • empirical research findings and case studies that offer further guidance and lessons for day to day practice.
 

Featured Article

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

Screen shot 2011-11-29 at 10.39.52 AM This article is a supplement to Issue 43 of Capacity.org. It takes a look behind the scenes of an extensive evaluation of 26 case studies covering the support to capacity development of seven Dutch Development Partners under the coordination and partial responsibility of the Policy and Operations Evaluation Department (IOB) of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign affairs. The evaluation aimed to draw lessons on how to improve the effectiveness of future capacity development interventions.

More

Search Terms:
analytical frameworks
casestudies

Recent Articles

Creative capacity development

18 August 2011

Screen shot 2011-08-23 at 1.42.24 PMThe development community seems constantly and restlessly in search of a singular approach that will “ solve” poverty, unveiling new buzzwords every few years only to toss them aside. Reflecting on personal experience as Director of a Cambodian capacity-building NGO, VBNK,  Jenny Pearson argues that the fundamental flaw with prevailing development approaches is that they remain embedded in a technocratic and specialized paradigm that is ill-equipped to deal with the complexity of real-world development contexts.

  More

Designing a results-focused capacity development strategy

17 August 2011

WBI-primerIn this guide published in August 2011, the World Bank Institute (WBI) presents operational steps to help a project leader or task team facilitate stakeholders in designing a capacity development strategy.

More

Theories of change: A resource list

24 May 2011

Research to Action has developed a list of resources for researchers and organizations looking to develop a ‘theory of change’ for their work. The page is worth visiting for capacity development practitioners as many of the resources provide practical guidance on how to fit the different theoretical frameworks to a variety of practice contexts.

More

Online discussion: Is capacity development on the brink of maturity?

21 March 2011

CDIP-bookcoverWe are pleased to invite you to participate in an online discussion on some of the issues tackled in "Capacity Development in Practice", the resource volume for practitioners.

More

Scaling up in development cooperation

21 March 2011

GIZ-coverFor over 30 years one of the core tasks of the German international cooperation agency GIZ's core tasks has been to support people, organizations and societies in developing and emerging countries as they undergo the learning and change processes needed to achieve capacity development. Specifically, this entails supporting people in acquiring technical expertise, managerial competence and performance capability. And it means supporting organizations, public institutions and private companies in making their organizational, management and production structures more efficient and effective. 

More

IDS Bulletin 41.3 (April 2010) Reflecting collectively on capacities for change

18 December 2010

IDS-Bull413‘Capacity development’ implies a promise of growing self-reliance, national ownership and sustainability, yet practice seems consistently to fall short of this emancipatory promise. This publication argues for a reframing of capacity development for emancipatory social change.

More

More Articles

Other Topics

Essential Readings

  • Ubels, J., N. Acquaye-Baddoo and A. Fowler (eds.) (2010) Capacity Development in Practice, Earthscan, UK

  • Kaplan, A. (1999) The Developing of Capacity, Community Development Resource Association, Cape Town, South Africa

  • Baser, H. and P. Morgan (2008) ‘Capacity, change and performance: Study report’, ECDPM Discussion Paper 59B, ECDPM: Maastricht

  • OECD (2006) The Challenge of Capacity Development: Working Towards Good Practice, Paris

Go to annotated bibliography