Capacity development has been emerging as a central approach within development for more than two decades. This approach has gradually shifted the focus of development practice from simple financial aid and technical cooperation towards a complex new paradigm that encourages and demands active involvement and ownership from the people and communities involved in aid programmes. The approach takes into account the broader political, social, and economic environment in which change takes place. Capacity development co-exists and is supported by older forms of development practice, and is a continuously shifting paradigm as experience informs policy, practice, and theory.
To help you better understand and master this complex paradigm, this course introduces the key concepts, principles, and values of capacity development. The main focus is on building practical skills for better design, planning, implementation, and assessment of capacity development initiatives.
Course materials were developed with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Learning Network on Capacity Development (LenCD), and Learn4Dev.
Lecturers
Ms Carol Kiangura
Senior Program Officer, Sub-Saharan Africa, International Budget Partnership
Ms Carol Kiangura is an alumna of the 2013 Capacity Development course. She has a Masters Degree in Organisational Development from the United States International University (USIU) in Kenya. She has about fifteen year’s progressive experience gained from working in the civil society sector in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean regions. Ms Kiangura’s niche is in developing and implementing capacity development programmes at a national and international level for various stakeholders, especially for civil society organisations, including movements, networks, and coalitions. She is skilled in managing learning processes for adult learners and in managing multiple and complex partnerships. Ms Kiangura currently works as a the Senior Program Officer, Sub-Saharan Africa, Training, Technical Assistance and Networking Team, at the International Budget Partnership.
Dr Anthony Land
Capacity Development Consultant
Dr Anthony Land is a freelance consultant based in Botswana specialising in capacity development and change management. He works extensively in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region designing and evaluating programmes on decentralisation, public sector management, and governance. He has co-designed and applied various capacity diagnostic tools including the ‘5 Capabilities’ tool amongst others, which have been used to design and monitor organisational/ institutional strengthening interventions. As a Programme Associate of the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) he has contributed to thinking on the theory and practice of capacity development in international cooperation. He was the founder of Capacity.Org, an online knowledge portal on capacity development, and has authored/co-edited various publications including Hauck, Land, Ubels, and Grein [eds] (2015) Capacity Development Beyond Aid (SNV Netherlands Development Organisation and ECDPM); and Land, Hauck, and Baser (2009) Capacity Development: Between Planned Interventions and Emergent Processes – Implications for Development Cooperation (ECDPM Policy Management Brief No. 22).
Ms Jenny Pearson
Capacity Development Consultant
Ms Jenny Pearson has lived and worked in Cambodia since 1995. She has qualifications in social work and management and worked in the public sector in England before going to Cambodia. She founded and directed VBNK, Cambodia's leading learning and capacity development institution, until 2008. She has played a leading role in developing the capacity of the not-for-profit sector in Cambodia, introducing creative approaches to capacity development and serving on the boards of several prominent development organisations. In 2007 she was a visiting fellow at the Institute of Development Studies in the UK. Jenny now spends her time consulting and writing about capacity development, drawing on her years of experience to contribute the voice of practice to the international discourse on capacity development. She is the author of Creative Capacity Development: learning to adapt in development practice, and the OECD Work Paper Training and Beyond: Seeking better practices for capacity development.
Capacity development has been emerging as a central approach within development for more than two decades. This approach has gradually shifted the focus of development practice from simple financial aid and technical cooperation towards a complex new paradigm that encourages and demands active involvement and ownership from the people and communities involved in aid programmes. The approach takes into account the broader political, social, and economic environment in which change takes place. Capacity development co-exists and is supported by older forms of development practice, and is a continuously shifting paradigm as experience informs policy, practice, and theory.
To help you better understand and master this complex paradigm, this course introduces the key concepts, principles, and values of capacity development. The main focus is on building practical skills for better design, planning, implementation, and assessment of capacity development initiatives.
Course materials were developed with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Learning Network on Capacity Development (LenCD), and Learn4Dev.
Learning Objectives
Concept of capacity development
By the end of this course, participants should be able to:
- Explain the concept of capacity development, with understanding of different levels of implementation, types of capacity, and themes for application.
- Define capacity and capacity development appropriately for your particular context and/or professional environment.
- Describe how capacity development is related to the aid effectiveness agenda.
- Explain and provide examples of the importance of context and culture for effective capacity development.
Practical skills
By the end of this course, participants should be able to do some or all of the following (based on their particular needs and interests):
- Assess existing capacity and define capacity needs.
- Assess change readiness.
- Define the change process and map the changes required.
- Map and work effectively with stakeholders, when starting a capacity development project or programme.
- Formulate capacity goals and objectives.
- Formulate capacity indicators for different contexts and levels.
- Design a capacity development approach, including selecting and adapting appropriate methods and tools.
- Work with incentives to stimulate change.
- Measure capacity outcomes and results for different levels and contexts.
- Develop monitoring and evaluation processes that foster learning.
Understanding and application
By the end of this course, participants should be able to:
- Develop a capacity development strategy.
- Analyse case studies of capacity development to identify best practices.
- Assess and evaluate what others are suggesting/offering as capacity development interventions.
- Negotiate or advocate for capacity development to be integrated effectively into programmes and projects.
- Facilitate and promote shared understanding of capacity development concepts, and use of a common language to talk about capacity development.
- Collaborate effectively online.
Course Outline
- Introduction to capacity development. Core concepts for capacity development: levels, types and themes; defining capacity and capacity development; the relevance of culture and context; building a shared understanding about the principles and values of capacity development.
- Assessing existing capacity; defining capacity needs. Who should do the assessment; framing the assessment; what to assess; choosing an assessment approach and tools; helpful assessment questions to work with; defining capacity needs.
- Change readiness and working with a change process. Why assess for change readiness, defining the scope of the assessment; finding and creating assessment tools; working with the results of the assessment.
- Working with stakeholders. Why map stakeholders?; what, who, and how to map.
- Capacity goals, objectives, and indicators. Why set goals and objectives?; capacity goals and what they need to cover; levels of focus for capacity goals; capacity objectives; levels of focus for capacity objectives; the learning and change perspective; why indicators are needed; who should define and use indicators; starting with baseline information; types of indicators; sequencing indicators over time; selected examples.
- Capacity development approaches. Preparing for good design; getting started and deciding entry points; choice of interventions; sequencing, selected approaches, tools and techniques for learning and change at all levels; working with incentives to stimulate change.
- Measuring capacity results at all levels. Who needs to be involved in measurement, and how; what needs to be measured and criteria for measurement; creating a measurement framework to fit the context; tools for measurement.
- Monitoring and evaluation for learning. Benefits and characteristics of M&E processes that foster learning; challenges; tools and methods. Course review and wrap-up.
This course will be of interest to practitioners of capacity development and other professionals working in the development field who plan to start working specifically in capacity development.
This course is conducted entirely online over a period of nine weeks. Reading materials and tools for online interaction are provided through an online classroom. The course is based on a collaborative approach to learning, involving a high level of interaction. Each week, participants read an assigned module text, adding questions and comments as hypertext entries. Lecturers and other participants read and respond to these entries, creating interaction based on the module text. During the week, participants complete additional online activities (e.g. further discussion via blogs or forums, group tasks, short assignments). At the end of the week, participants, lecturers, and guest experts meet online in a chat room to discuss the week’s topic.
Please note that due to the spread of course participants across time zones worldwide, scheduled online session times may not fall within working hours for all participants. Some participants may need to attend online sessions during the morning or evening hours.
This course requires a minimum of five to seven hours of study time per week. Before you apply, please consider carefully whether you can commit the necessary time in order to complete the course successfully
Successful participants will receive a certificate issued by DiploFoundation.
Applicants must have:
- At least two years experience working in the development field at the sector, national, regional, or international level, with preference given to applicants already working in capacity development.
- Sufficient knowledge of the English language to undertake postgraduate-level studies (including reading academic texts, discussing complex concepts with other course participants, and writing short essays).
- Regular access to the Internet (dial-up connection is sufficient, although broadband is preferable).
- Sufficient time for online study, which requires five to seven hours per week.
Tuition fees are 790 euros per participant, due upon acceptance into the course.
A limited number of partial scholarships are available for applicants from developing countries. Please indicate on the application from and in your motivation letter if you are requesting a scholarship.
Please fill out the online application form.
Please upload a motivation letter with your application (maximum 1 page) indicating:
- Details of your relevant professional and educational background, including your personal objectives and plans for the future.
- Reasons for your interest in this course.
- Why you feel you should be selected to participate in this course: how your participation will benefit you, your institution and/or your country.
- If you are applying for a partial scholarship (only available to developing country applicants) please include the name and e-mail address of a referee in your organisation.
Selected applicants will be notified shortly after the application deadline.
Late applications will be considered only if places remain in the course. In case of enquiries, please contact us at admissions@diplomacy.edu
Cancellation Policy
Diplo reserves the right to cancel this course if enrolment is insufficient. In case of cancellation, Diplo will notify applicants shortly after the application deadline.
The course enabled me widen my understanding of different approaches to capacity development. I have been able to review our organizational understanding of capacity development within the context of our beneficiaries and target groups. Most importantly, applying the questions - why capacity development and for whom - has enabled my team and I to review how we view capacity development and reflect on areas of improvement, especially the need to carry out organizational capacity assessments right at the beginning of a program as opposed to mid-way or towards the end.
The course helped me to integrate a lot of knowledge I had gathered over the years into a more coherent framework. This framework was supported by the design of the course which followed a strict logical and temporal pattern, coupled with reflection on one’s own work.
I gained theoretical knowledge of the different stages of a capacity development initiative, such as: assessing capacities at an early stage, assessing change readiness, and mapping a change process based on a theory of change. I knew the importance of these steps, however, I hadn't yet performed them in a coherent, sequential, and systematic way, which allowed for adaptation to any given circumstance.