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 are based on the Learning Network on Capacity Development (LenCD) Learning Package on Capacity Development, and were developed with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), LenCD, and Learn4Dev.
Learning Objectives
Concept of capacity development
By the end of this course, participants should be able to:
- Define and explain the concept of capacity development, with reference to different levels of implementation, types of capacity, and themes for application.
- Explain the importance of context and culture for effective capacity development.
- Describe how capacity development is related to the aid effectiveness agenda.
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 influence 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.
- Measure capacity outcomes and results for different levels and contexts.
- Develop monitoring and evaluation processes that foster learning.
- Work with incentives to stimulate change.
- Establish partnerships and networks for scale-up.
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 and 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.
- Assessing change readiness; defining and mapping a change process. Why assess for change readiness, defining the scope of the assesment; finding and creating assessment tools; working with the reuslts of the assessment.
- Mapping and influencing stakeholders. Why map stakeholders?; what, who, and how to map.
- Formulating capacity goals and objectives, and capacity 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.
- Designing a capacity development approach. 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. Optional reading on working with incentives to stimulate change.
- Measuring capacity outcomes and results for different levels and contexts. 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.
- Developing monitoring and evaluation processes that foster learning. Benefits and characteristics of M&E processes that foster learning; challenges; tools and methods. Course review and wrap-up.
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.
