Capacity building (or capacity development, capacity strengthening) is the improvement in an individual's or organization's facility (or capability) "to produce, perform or deploy". The terms capacity building and capacity development have often been used interchangeably, although a publication by OECD-DAC stated in 2006 that capacity development was the preferable term. Since the 1950s, international organizations, governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and communities use the concept of capacity building as part of "social and economic development" in national and subnational plans. The United Nations Development Programme defines itself by "capacity development" in the sense of "'how UNDP works" to fulfill its mission.UNDP (2009) CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT: A UNDP PRIMERUNDP (2009) UNDP Global Capacity Development Facility GOING FOR SCALE GOING FOR SUSTAINABILITY GOING FOR QUALITY Capacity Development Group Bureau for Development Policy United Nations Development Programme New York, January 2009 The UN system applies it in almost every sector, including several of the Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by 2030. For example, the Sustainable Development Goal 17 advocates for enhanced international support for capacity building in developing countries to support national plans to implement the 2030 Agenda.
Under the codification of international development law, capacity building is a "cross cutting modality of international intervention". It often overlaps or is part of interventions in public administration reform, good governance and education in line sectors of public services.Lempert, D. H. (2018) A Treatise on International Development Law, 11 DePaul J. for Soc. Just.
The consensus approach of the international community for the components of capacity building as established by the World Bank, United Nations and European Commission consists of five areas: a clear policy framework, institutional development and legal framework, citizen participation and oversight, human resources improvements including education and training, and sustainability.UNDP (1998) CAPACITY ASSESSMENT AND DEVELOPMENT In a Systems and Strategic Management Context Technical Advisory Paper No. 3 Management Development and Governance Division Bureau for Development Policy January 1998 Some of these overlap with other interventions and sectors. Much of the actual focus has been on training and educational inputs where it may be a euphemism for education and training. For example, UNDP focuses on training needs in its assessment methodology rather than on actual performance goals.
The pervasive use of the term for these multiple sectors and elements and the huge amount of development aid funding devoted to it has resulted in controversy over its true meaning. There is also concern over its use and impacts. In international development funding, evaluations by the World Bank and other donors have consistently revealed problems in this overall category of funding dating back to the year 2000.The World Bank (2000) Reforming Public Institutions and Strengthening Governance, A World Bank Strategy, Public Sector Group Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) Network Since the arrival of capacity building as a dominant subject in international aid, donors and practitioners have struggled to create a concise mechanism for determining the effectiveness of capacity building initiatives. An independent public measurement indicator for improvement and oversight of the large variety of capacity building initiatives was published in 2015. This scoring system is based on international development law and professional management principles.
Definitions
Capacity development A "good practice paper" by OECD-DAC defined capacity development as follows: "Capacity development is understood as the process whereby people, organizations and society as a whole unleash, strengthen, create, adapt and maintain capacity over time."OECD-DAC (2006) THE CHALLENGE OF CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT: WORKING TOWARDS GOOD PRACTICE , DAC Network on Governance, JT00200369, DCD/DAC/GOVNET(2005)5/REV1 Capacity is understood as "the ability of people, organizations and society as a whole to manage their affairs successfully".
The OECD-DAC stated in 2006 that the term "capacity development" should be used rather than the term "capacity building". This is because "capacity building" would imply starting from a plain surface and a step-by-step erection of a new structure - which is not how it works.
The European Commission Toolkit defines capacity development in the same way and stresses that capacity relates to "abilities", "attributes" and a "process". It is an attribute of people, individual organizations and groups of organizations. Capacity is shaped by, adapting to and reacting to external factors and actors, but it is not something external — it is internal to people, organizations and groups or systems of organizations. Thus, capacity development is a change process internal to organizations and people.
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), formerly the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), defines capacity development in the disaster risk reduction domain as "the process by which people, organizations and society systematically stimulate and develop their capability over time to achieve social and economic goals, including through improvement of knowledge, skills, systems, and institutions – within a wider social and cultural enabling environment."
Outside of international interventions, capacity building can refer to strengthening the skills of people and communities, in small businesses and local grassroots movements. Organizational capacity building is used by NGOsMcKinsey & Company (2001) Effective Capacity Building in Nonprofit Organizations , Prepared for Venture Philanthropy Partners by McKinsey & Company and governments to guide their internal development and activities as a form of managerial improvements following administrative practices.
Community capacity building The United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration in 2006 offered an additional term, "community capacity building". It is defined as a long-term continual process of development that involves all stakeholders as opposed to practices which limit oversight and involvement in interventions with governments. The list of parties that it defines as "community" includes ministries, local authorities, non-governmental organizations, professionals, community members, academics and more. According to the Committee, capacity building takes place at an individual, an institutional, societal level and "non-training" level.
The term "community capacity building" (CCB) began to be used in 1995 and since then became popular for example within the policy literature in the United Kingdom, particularly in the context of urban policy, regeneration and social development. It is, however, difficult to distinguish it from the practice of "community development". It is "built on a deficit model of communities which fails to engage properly with their own skills, knowledge and interests". Therefore, it does not properly address structural reasons for poverty and inequality.
Components The World Bank, United Nations and European Commission describe capacity building to consist of five areas: a clear policy framework, institutional development and legal framework, citizen/democratic participation and oversight, human resources improvements including education and training, and sustainability.
The United Nations Development Group Capacity Development Guidelines presents a framework of capacity development comprising three interconnected levels of capacity: Individual, Institutional and Enabling Policy.United Nations Development Group (2017) Capacity Development, UNDAF Guidance.
Thinking of capacity building as simply training or human resource development is insufficient.Heslop, Vivienne Rosemary (2010) Sustainable capacity: building institutional capacity for sustainable development. PhD thesis, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
Evolution
History The discourse on and concept of capacity development has traditionally been closely associated with development cooperation.Heinz Greijn, Volker Hauck, Anthony Land and Jan Ubels (2015) Capacity development beyond aid, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation and European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), ISBN 978-90-72908-48-3
The UNDP was one of the forerunners in designing international interventions in the category of capacity building and development. In the early 1970s, the UNDP offered guidance to its staff and governments on what it called "institution-building" which is one of the pillars of its current work and is part of a category of "public administration reform".
In the 1970s, international organizations emphasized building capacity through technical skills training in rural areas, and also in the administrative sectors of developing countries. In the 1980s they expanded the concept of institutional development further. "Institutional development" was viewed as a long-term process of interventions in a developing country's government, public and private sector institutions, and NGOs.
Under the UNDP's 2008–2013 "strategic plan for development", capacity building is the "organization's core contribution to development". The UNDP focused on building capacity at an institutional level and offers a six-step process for systematic capacity building. The six steps are: Conducting training need assessment, engage stakeholders on capacity development, assess capacity needs and assets, formulate a capacity development response, implement a capacity development response, evaluate capacity development.
Trends Since about 2005, the capacity development agenda has also been adopted beyond the traditional aid community. This is particularly true for Africa: for example the African Union has developed a Capacity Development Strategic Framework and is using capacity development as one of three themes to structure its Development Effectiveness internet portal.
Trends in development cooperation shape how capacity development is discussed. These include for example: new forms of financing and less of a North–South dichotomy; more in-country leadership and less donor power; resilience as a framework in fragile environments; increasing private sector engagement.
Global goals The UNDP integrated this capacity-building system into its work on reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the year 2015. The UNDP states that it focused on building capacity at the institutional level because it believed that "institutions are at the heart of human development, and that when they are able to perform better, [...] they can contribute more meaningfully to the achievement of national human development goals."
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals mention capacity building (rather than capacity development) in several places: Sustainable Development Goal 17 is to "Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development". Target 9 of that goal is formulated as "Enhance international support for implementing effective and targeted capacity-building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all the Sustainable Development Goals, including through north–south, South-South and triangular cooperation."