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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'
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.
- Search Terms:
- analytical frameworks
- casestudies
Recent Articles
capacity-development-for-development-practitioners
09 December 2011
The purpose of this practitioner’s Guide is to provide practical guidance to UNDP staff, partner
countries and other development partners on the nature of environmental capacity and how to support
capacity development for environmental sustainability (cdes). the guide builds on undp’s Practice
Note on Capacity Development and Practice Note on Capacity Assessment and incorporates best
practices from cdes experience
to date. the main text of this guide presents the undp approach to cdes, including guiding
principles, an analytical framework and a five-step process that can be adapted to various
settings.
Creative capacity development
18 August 2011
The 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.
Designing a results-focused capacity development strategy
17 August 2011
In
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.
Online discussion: Is capacity development on the brink of maturity?
21 March 2011
We 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.
Practical guide to capacity development in a sector context
09 November 2010
This guide, published in May 2008, was specifically designed for practitioners working with capacity development (CD) processes. The target group is staff and managers in public organizations who are or want to be change agents or change managers, consultants, as well as staff from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or other development partners who wish to support CD processes.
MoreEldis: topic-based knowledge resources
08 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.
MoreOther Topics
Essential Readings
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Ubels, J., N. Acquaye-Baddoo and A. Fowler (eds.) (2010) Capacity Development in Practice, Earthscan, UK
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Kaplan, A. (1999) The Developing of Capacity, Community Development Resource Association, Cape Town, South Africa
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Baser, H. and P. Morgan (2008) ‘Capacity, change and performance: Study report’, ECDPM Discussion Paper 59B, ECDPM: Maastricht
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OECD (2006) The Challenge of Capacity Development: Working Towards Good Practice, Paris
