Change facilitation
By its very definition, capacity development implies facilitating or leading an entity to improved performance. This often entails helping different actors within an organization or across organizations to change and/or improve their interactions in order to bring about the desired changes.
Change facilitators do not only help to bring about the desired outcomes, they actively intervene in the capacity development process itself. The aim in doing this is to help the actors involved to engage, act and reflect on both the immediate challenge faced and the wider capacity development context. As the resources provided on this page show, the issues faced will vary considerably, depending on whether one is dealing with a single organization or network, or a broader multi-stakeholder process. Effective change facilitation requires a good understanding of, among others:
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Different advisory roles and the related behavioural requirements for change facilitators;
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Some of the underlying concepts and frameworks in change processes as well as a range of dialogue tools, methods and approaches used (for example action learning, social-organisational learning and knowledge networking);
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Specific approaches and tools for dealing with contesting values, politics, power, negotiation, conflict resolution and transformation, and mediation.
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Applications of these frameworks and approaches to specific change facilitation challenges, for instance multi stakeholder processes, social and public acccountability, and ‘value chain’ development
Several of the other topics featured on this website address aspects of these themes in more detail.
Featured Article
La réalisation de Facilitating Resourcefulness
Le présent article est un supplément au numéro 43
de Capacity.org. Il offre un aperçu de travaux réalisés dans le cadre d'une vaste \evaluation
consacrée à l'appui du renforcement des capacités de sept partenaires au développement
néerlandais (PDN), cordonnée par le Service de l'évaluation des politiques et des opérations (IOB)
du ministère néerlandais des Affaires étrangères. L'évaluation avait pour but de tirer des
enseignements sur les moyens d'accoître l'efficacité des interventions de renforcement de
capacités.
- Search Terms:
- analytical frameworks
- casestudies
Recent Articles
Répertoire d’études de cas du LenCD
26 March 2012
Les
études de cas constituent un instrument important de partage de connaissances et d’apprentissage.
Nombreuses sont les organisations qui en publient, mais il a toujours fallu des efforts
substantiels de recherche pour y accéder.
Le LenCD (Learning Network on Capacity Development – Réseau d’apprentissage sur le renforcement des capacités) a constitué un répertoire d’études de cas réunissant notamment des matériels du Programme des Nations Unies pour le développement, de l’Équipe de projet sur la coopération Sud-Sud (OCDE), de la SNV et de l’Institut de la Banque mondiale.
Plus de 500 études de cas ont été répertoriées à ce jour. Elles sont accessibles et interrogeables (par pays et par mots clés) sur le site du LenCD à www.lencd.org/case-stories.
MoreArticle Principal: Des marchés favorables aux petits exploitants?
23 March 2012
Capacité et pouvoir d’agir
Le
débat polarisé sur les modalités selon lesquelles les marchés peuvent favoriser les intérêts des
petits agriculteurs ou s’y opposer présente des défis de taille aux praticiens. Le présent article
vise à recadrer notre pensée sur les petits exploitants et les marchés.
Strengthening pastoralist voices in Tanzania
14 February 2012
This booklet, and its accompanying DVD, reports on the ‘Strengthening Voices’ project,
underway in two districts in northern Tanzania. The project aims to strengthen the capacity of
pastoralist communities and local governments to shape strategies for adaptive environmental
management and poverty reduction in Tanzania’s drylands. At the core of the project is a training
course that explains the economic and ecological processes at the heart of pastoral systems -
clarifying the rationale that underpins pastoral livelihood strategies.The course is based on a
similar initiative that has been field-tested and run in the Sahel region of West Africa since
2000.
Supporting improved livelihoods for pastoralists
27 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.
La réalisation de Facilitating Resourcefulness
30 November 2011
Le présent article est un supplément au numéro 43
de Capacity.org. Il offre un aperçu de travaux réalisés dans le cadre d'une vaste \evaluation
consacrée à l'appui du renforcement des capacités de sept partenaires au développement
néerlandais (PDN), cordonnée par le Service de l'évaluation des politiques et des opérations (IOB)
du ministère néerlandais des Affaires étrangères. L'évaluation avait pour but de tirer des
enseignements sur les moyens d'accoître l'efficacité des interventions de renforcement de
capacités.
Interview: Attraper la vague écologique
13 September 2011
Elizabeth
Dipuo Peters, Ministre de l’é nergie de la République sud-africaine
L’Afrique du Sud, sur la voie de l’accès à l’énergie pour tous
L’Afrique du Sud est en passe d’atteindre l’objectif de l’accès à l’énergie pour tous d’ici 2015, accomplissement d’autant plus remarquable qu’il y 15 ans, seuls 30 % des habitants avaient accès à l’électricité. La ministre de l’énergie, Mme Elizabeth Dipuo Peters, explique comment le pays a obtenu ce résultat.
MoreOther Topics
Essential Readings
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Facilitating multi-actor change
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M. Hemmati (2002) Multi-stakeholder Processes for Governance and Sustainability: Beyond Deadlock and Conflict, Earthscan
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Pruitt, B. and P. Thomas (2007) Democratic Dialogue – A Handbook for Practitioners, CIDA, IDEA, OAS and UNDP
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Wageningen International (2009) Building your Capacity to Facilitate Multi-Stakeholder Processes and Social Learning
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Divine Thaw and Warren Banks (2007) Facilitating Development Processes: Working in the Unknown, Olive-PPT, Durban
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De Caluwe, L. and H. Vermaak (2003) Learning to change: A guide for organizational change agents, Sage, Thousand Oaks, California
Featured Community
The Change Alliance: Using stakeholder processes and complexity thinking in governing for sustainability and social justice
The Change Alliance is an emerging
global network of organizations joining forces to increase the effectiveness of the
multi-stakeholder processes in which they engage. Its aim is to help improve the quality of
the design, dialogue, learning, and facilitation, on which these processes depend. The logic of the
Alliance is that complex problems demand a new dynamic of how governments, citizens, business and
civil society organizations work together. The Alliance facilitates a NING online learning
platform with interesting discussions, a Q&A section, blogs and announcements from
members.







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