View source for PDF: The Challenge of Capacity Development: Working Towards Good Practice

'''Citation'''
<br> OECD/DAC. (2006). The Challenge of Capacity Development: Working Towards Good Practice. Paris, France: OECD.
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===[https://iucn.oscar.ncsu.edu/mediawiki/images/e/e1/OECD%282006%29.pdf Download PDF]===
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'''Summary'''
<br>From Executive Summary:
<br>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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[http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display/document/legacyid/1704 Original Document Source]