Capacity Development - Which Capacities?

Which Capacities?

When discussing capacity development it is paramount to put in focus the capacities which are the subject of any capacity development investment. Which capacities are we talking about?

While technical cooperation prioritizes technical capacities, particularly in sectors such as engineering, health, energy, water, accounting and social security; capacity development is concerned with a set of cross-cutting, functional capacities, which are sector neutral and common to all organisations, institutions and systems. In the past few years research and on the ground development experience have shown that 'horizontal' investments in these cross-cutting capacities yield long-lasting and far-reaching development results.

The capacity to engage with stakeholders and create consensus around a policy, a bill or a plan; the capacity to articulate the mandate of a new institution or to vision the trajectory of an organisation or even a society; the capacity to develop a strategy, translate it into a plan and prepare a budget; the capacity to implement a programme or a policy and the capacity to monitor its implementation and evaluate results are all fundamental capacities that organisations, institutions and societies need in order to be effective and function well. These capacities transcend sectors and unit size; they are common to ministries of education and ministries of environment and natural resources, parliaments and human right commissions, small local government units and offices of the auditor general alike.

These cross-cutting, functional capacities are not just merely management capacities; they hinge on, and are closely connected with, effective and good leadership capacity; the existence of effective and well functioning institutions and institutional arrangements, including a structured system of incentives; an environment conducive to knowledge sharing and knowledge acquisition; as well as transparent and independent accountability systems.