PDF: The Challenge of Capacity Development: Working Towards Good Practice
Citation
OECD/DAC. (2006). The Challenge of Capacity Development: Working Towards Good Practice. Paris, France: OECD.
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Summary
From Executive Summary:
Why focus on capacity?
Adequate country capacity is one of the critical missing factors in current efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Development efforts in many of the poorest countries will fail, even if they are supported with substantially increased funding, if the development of sustainable capacity is not given greater and more careful attention. This is now widely recognised by donor organisations and partner countries alike, as articulated in the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.
Capacity development is a major challenge. Technical Cooperation and various forms of capacity building have absorbed substantial funds over many decades. While a few countries have done well, donor efforts in many countries have produced little to show in terms of sustainable country capacity. This contrast between the importance of the challenge and the difficulty of meeting it is what stimulated the preparation of this paper. The paper draws on a large volume of documented experience provided by bilateral and multilateral donors and academic specialists. It is mainly concerned with capacity and performance in the public sector, but private sector experience is drawn on where relevant.
Capacity development involves much more than enhancing the knowledge and skills of individuals. It depends crucially on the quality of the organisations in which they work. In turn, the operations of particular organisations are influenced by the enabling environment – the structures of power and influence and the institutions – in which they are embedded. Capacity is not only about skills and procedures. It is also about incentives and governance.
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