Capacity Development Some comments and inputs Morten Eriksen, WWF Norway, meriksenwwf'no

1
Capacity Development Some comments and
inputsMorten Eriksen, WWF Norway,
meriksen_at_wwf.no
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A people-centered approach

• historically we find that all the big
  important changes womens equality, racial
  equality, ending apartheid, respect for gays and
  lesbians, concern for the environment
• all of these were driven not by declarations in
  Paris or New York or The Hague or Dar es Salaam,
  or government schemes or NGO projects
• but by socio-political movements of capable,
  committed and courageous people.
• Rakesh Rajani, Hakielimu, Dar es Salaam

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Definitions

• UNDP and DAC definitions found useful
• Capacity is the ability of people, organisations
  and society as a whole to perform assigned tasks
  well, solve problems, and set and achieve
  objectives.
• Capacity Development is then
• Processes/activities designed to improve desired
  ability.
• What is ability?

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Best/good practices

• Conceptually it may be easier to have a
  planning- or process-based definition of
  Best/good Practice
• Those approaches to Capacity Development
  promoted by internationally accepted actors.
• Best/good Practice is what at any given time is
  publicly promoted as such by key international
  institutions that have a particular legitimacy
  and credibility in this area the World Bank, the
  UNDP, OECD/DAC, and ACBF in Africa.
• ?

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Modes of Capacity Development

• Four modes of CD are
• (i) Software support by promoting knowledge and
  organisational know-how,
• (ii) Hardware support
• infrastructure and equipment,
• (iii) financialsupport, and (iv) pooled funding.
• Four modes or two?
• Software Knowledge and know-how?

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Regarding CD Software

• Technical Assistance (TA)
• Twinning
• Training Lack of quality at entry good
  planning and relevant pedagogical skills(!)
  also hampers much of the training efforts, though
  NGOs seem better at this than formal donor-funded
  training for the public sector
• Salary Support? WP Sitting allowance?
• Knowledge and Information Sharing
• may be one of the best ways of promoting
  broad-based CD since much of this is provision of
  public goods.

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Main Challenges

• Where are the people/the poor? The end
  beneficiaries?
• How much knowledge and skills by whom?
• Lack of quality at entry - good planning and
  relevant pedagogical skills
• Where is the pedagogy?
• The knowledge on learning also considering
  time, maturing, understanding - quality? On what
  really functions historically?
• The practical adult educational approach?
• Is money and technical assistance the best we can
  share?
• If knowledge and skills What type of?

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Another approach to CD

• ... non-formal, popular adult education
  initiatives
• characterised by a unified focus, a creative
  exchange of methods and materials and, above all,
  a keen understanding of the link between popular
  education and building peoples power
• (LEARNING LIVING DEMOCRACY, Non-formal adult
  education in Sweden and South Africa, Idasa,
  2007)
• This and the following quotations

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Another approach to CD

• nonformal education has a particularly
  important role to play in education for life, for
  development, and for democracy
• In the contemporary South African context there
  is a risk of citizens becoming locked into the
  mode of complaint and protest, instead of
  developing the confidence to become
  problem-solvers and agents of change and
  development in their communities

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Another approach to CD

• ... Technocratic problem-solving and the language
  of service delivery make it easy for citizens to
  become passive while they wait for the government
  to fulfill its promises
• The challenge is not to Develop Capacity but
  to empower
• Capacity Development Holistic approach to
  organisational and personal empowerment and
  change.

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Defining Capacity Building (Intrac)

• Capacity building is fundamentally a human
  process of development and change that involves
  shifts and transformations in relationships and
  power.
• A complex, human process based on values,
  emotions and beliefs. Change is often motivated
  by personal factors.

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CSOP Tanzania Goal and purpose

• Goal
• The contribution of fisheries, forestry and
  wildlife to the national economic growth, poverty
  reduction and peoples livelihoods is improved on
  a sustainable basis through more democratic, open
  and transparent governance.  
• Purpose
• The capacity, skills and ability of environmental
  civil society organisations is strengthened so
  that they more effectively participate in and
  influence decision making and governance such
  that management of natural resources in Tanzania,
  is more sustainable.

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Main approaches and methods

• Organizational assessments Organizational
  capacity assessments of environmental CSOs to
  establish baselines.
• Reports and research Support for advocacy
  initiatives, including budget monitoring,
  political instruments tracking, as well as
  revenue and expenditure tracking studies, mainly
  on fisheries, forestry and wildlife resources.
  Make public its findings for advocacy.
•  
• Training Systematic and holistic training on
  policy analysis and advocacy, poverty and
  environmental problem analysis, awareness
  raising, organisational issues, leadership and
  Human Resource development. On the job-training
  and participatory methodology.

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Main approaches and methods

•  Access and use of strategic information
  Identify, analyse, interpret and disseminate key
  sector policy documents and strategies on
  fisheries, forestry and wildlife sectors. Put
  into plain language best practices and success
  stories, as well as lessons learned from poor
  practices in fisheries, forestry and wildlife
  sectors.
• Organisational support and seed money/small
  grants Financial and technical support for
  participating organisations to cover
  complementary activities to the activities in the
  project respective activities will be provided.
•  
• Development is about people. The rest is
  technique
•  

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On-the-job-training and learning by doing

• Module based, 1 year trainings Combining the
  in-house training with work in the organization.
• Delivering on real life assignments between the
  training sessions
• Doing and reporting on issues and challenges
  given at the training articles in print,
  meetings held, training conducted, etc links to
  the realities, gives real competence and
  qualifications for change and improvements.
• Learning by doing and solving problems and by
  succeeding with the assigned tasks.
• Coaching and mentoring when working in the
  organizations.

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Competence to Act
Professional knowledge Fagkompetanse
Know-how, skills Metodekompetanse
Competence to act Handlingskompetanse
Social-competence
Self-competence/Personal Competence
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Competence to Act

• Knowledge Facts- and science-based, relevant,
  selected and sufficient.
• Skills Analytical, communication, advocacy,
  information, organisational
• Social competence Communication, social
  intellingence, empathy, supportive,
• Human competence Values, attitudes,
  self-confidence, engagement, will, drive,
  courage,

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The Challenge of Context

• Political
• Social and economical
• Environmental
• Historic precolonial postcolonial
• Cultural contemporary and traditional
• Religous contemporary and traditional
• Educational Liberation or suppression?
• Culture is the missing link to development in
  Afrika. (WM)

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Levels of learning and understanding
Innovation, reformulation and change
Levels and competence for change
Basic learning levels
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Has delivered results 1
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Has delivered results 2
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The Challenge

• There is no use trying to help these people.
  These dirty, ignorant people are putting too many
  children into to the world.
• They won't work they have no discipline. They
  misuse every opportunity they get.
• Every time they get some money in their hands it
  all goes to drinking and senseless waste.
• All the help we give them is just an incentive to
  laziness, and another opportunity to produce even
  more children.
• (British industrialist, 1885, from Burkey,
  People First)

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Empowerment

• They used to say we were unproductive because we
  were lazy and drunkards.
• All lies.
• Now that we are respected as men, were going to
  show everyone that we were never drunkards nor
  lazy.
• We were exploited.
• (Chilean peasant leader, quoted by Freire, 1972)

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• But she would not listen!

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Recent emphasis in Management Thinking

• The centrality of values Focus on non-economic
  values and an empowering environment succeeded by
  161 to those focusing on economic
  outputs/values.
•  A spiritual dimension to organizational behavior
  as well as recognizing the religious and
  spiritual realities in the context of work.
•  
• Emotional intelligence in leadership The ability
  to feel, use, understand and learn from your own
  and others emotions. Capacity to recognize,
  interpret and relate to emotions.

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A People-Centered Approach

• Development is about people. The rest is
  technique
•  Holisitic view of people Both rationale and
  intellect and emotions and faith. The spiritual
  dimension has an important influence on values,
  behavior and relationships.
•  Places values at the core of change Values
  were the most important lever for change. The
  realization that there was a considerable
  difference between the people they wanted to be
  (their core values) and the people they were
  (their leadership behavior) was what drove the
  change process (researce on leadership change in
  East Africa, Intrac p 36)

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A People-Centered Approach

• Self-awareness
• The important first step in change. Knowledge to
  one self is necessary to starting a change
  process. Self-awareness through reflection,
  discussions and openness.
• Conscientization
• Ability, willingness and courage to ask
  questions, analyze, compare and evaluate, and to
  take measures to voice both problems and more
  equitable solution.

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A People-Centered Approach

• Dialogue and living word Touching both hearts
  and minds not just the intellect a dialogue
  based and oral interaction puts people, their
  experiences and development at the center stage.
• Takes gender into consideration in any change
  process. Power, decision-making, relationships
  and payments have a gender dimension.
• Hope, trust and confidence Bring hope and
  inspire people to change, overcome inherent human
  fear and build confidence and courage. An
  appreciative more than a problem-centered
  approach.

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UNDP Ten Principles for Capacity Development

• Dont rush Capacity Development is a long-term
  process.
• Respect the value system and foster self-esteem
• Scan locally and globally reinvent locally
  (learn do not copy!)
• Challenge mindsets and power differentials
• Think and act in terms of sustainable capacity
  outcomes
• Establish positive incentives
• Integrate external inputs into national
  priorities, processes and systems
• Build on existing capacities rather than develop
  new ones
• Stay engaged under difficult circumstances
• Remain accountable to ultimate beneficiaries

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Capacity Development (Intrac)

• Helping locate the organization in the wider
  world
• Facilitating an institution to design and deliver
  policies
• Developing an organizations ability to satisfy or
  influence its stakeholders
• Developing an organizations autonomy and
  independence
• Enabling an institution to create value
• A collation of institutional strengthening
  capital
• Building organizational or managerial strengths

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• But she would not listen!

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Capacity Building?

• Enhancing ability to evolve and adapt to change
• Opening the organization to innovations and new
  ideas
• Transferring knowledge and new learning
• Developing core skills and competencies
• Empowering staff and volunteers
• Changing patterns of behavior
• Improving morale, enhancing motivation and
  reducing stress and anxiety

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INGO understanding of Capacity Building (Intrac)

• What do you understand by capacity building?
• 20 - no formal definition
• 55 had shorter statements linked to improved
  performance of partners
• 25 had complex statements with references to the
  nature of the process, goals etc

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Contested purpose

• Enable ability to deliver services or programmes
• Increase accountability and greater legitimacy
• Increase productivity and improve efficiency and
  effectiveness
• Increase levels of participation in decision
  making and implementation
• Pass on technical skills
• Build on community involvement and mobilize
  communities to meet their own needs

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Purpose?

• Develop greater solidarity in the community and
  mobilize action
• Embrace innovation and being open to new
  approaches or technologies
• Promote viable and sustainable social enterprise
• Facilitate sense making and promoting greater
  understanding of the operational context.

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Different focus

• An instrumental focus
• Capacity building is about improving development
  project implementation, results and
  accountabilities
• A social/political focus
• Capacity building is about prompting societal and
  democratic change
• An organisational focus
• Capacity building is about improving development
  organisations sustainability, autonomy,
  integrity, independence and resilience

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Focus?

• A transformational focus
• Capacity building is about shifting relationships
  and power dynamics.
• A personal focus
• Capacity building is about strengthening the
  values, attitudes, abilities and courage of the
  participants to be more responsible and engaged
  as Change Agents
• Individual/personal Group Single organization
  Network Societal

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A coherent consensus?

• Capacity is most often associated with ability
  to or power to. (Empowerment)
• Human capabilities Skills, knowledge,
  experience, values, attitudes and courage.
• Relational capabilities Shared values/belief
  systems, common causes in groups, sharing
  information.
• Resource capabilities Money, buildings and
  computers time, knowledge.

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Empowerment

• to authorise - to make stronger - to qualify
• to broaden the influence of the disadvantaged in
  shaping their own living conditions

Empowerment ? to obtain power over Empowerment
to obtain power to Empowerment to overcome
power within Empowerment to have the
Competence to Act
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About improving

• Relationship with self
• having the integrity to match outward behavior
  with inner values
• being aware of ones identity, strengths and
  limitations
• having the humility to be open to learning and
  change.
• Relationship with others i.e. earning
  legitimacy from outside
• For organisations this comes from constituencies
  
• For leaders, it comes from followers. It also
  involves collaboration with others.

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The enabling factors 1

• Treating capacity building as an endogenous
  process internal, formed from within CSOs and
  participants must be in charge of own process.
• Transparently articulating actual stakeholder
  values, agendas, ethics and principles that
  underpin the Capacity Building
• Challenging existing power dynamics through safe,
  yet open dialogue
• Identifying the Human Dimensions Courage,
  curiosity, self-confidence, sense of self-worth,
  self-esteem and dignity

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The enabling factors 2

• Self-reflection and assessment
• Emphasizing building of trust and positive
  relationships between actors
• Networking rather than rivalry and competition
• Working explicitly with gender and diversity
  issues
• Having flexible, accessible funding
• Clarity in purpose, objectives, concepts,
  methodologies of CB
• Situational and contextual relevance

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Appreciative inquiry What works?

•  Ask people what works and they will replicate
  it
• The Law of our Grandmother
• A cooperative search for the best in people,
  their organization and the world around.
• Describe a high-point experience in your
  organization a time when you felt alive and
  engaged.
• What is it that you value the most in yourself,
  your work and your organization
• What three wishes do you have for your
  organization?

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A variety of methods

• Behavioral change can only take place when the
  learning experience is both intellectual and
  emotional
• Triads
• Journaling
• Stories
• Mentoring in pairs
• Physical exercise
• Singing
• Common experiences/excursions
• Practical work

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Variety of methods

• MCIC, Macedonia, used
• Consultancy
• Open training
• In house training
• Study visits
• Secondments
• On-the-job-training
• Peer counseling
• Mentoring and coaching

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Trends

• Periodic, rather than one-off, inputs
• 4-18 months total, short inputs, then back to
  work
• Working with specific individuals (often leaders)
  and developing teams while bearing in mind the
  whole organizations development (mentoring and
  coaching)
• Appreciating the influence of history and the
  need to consider the future when making changes
• Accepting the need to work on both hard and
  soft issues

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Experiential and process-led approaches

• Longer-term mentoring, coaching, advice and
  facilitation is considered the only effective way
  to ensure the application of knowledge gained in
  training as well as to bring about change in
  individual and organisational attitudes.
• Training is still the predominant method of
  capacity building, according to Praxis Papers 8
  and 9.
• The aid system finds discrete training packages
  easier to support than open-ended, evolving
  processes.
• Furthermore, many cultures find a more didactic
  approach (organized/structured learning) to
  capacity building closer to their expectations
  and past experiences.

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Modular inputs

• Although training still seems to be the prime
  methodology used, it appears to be becoming more
  modular.
• Capacity building processes with a number of
  short training inputs over a period of 4 to 18
  months.
• Space between inputs allows participants to
  digest, apply and implement the learning from the
  training inputs.
• On-the-job training and learning by doing
  Training combined with delivering on real
  outputs.
• It also provides the opportunity to receive
  support from mentors or peers between modules.

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Personal and Relational Change CABUNGO,
Malawian CB

• Participants reported they were more self-aware
  at individual and organisational levels
• shift relationship between leadership, staff and
  board creating more ownership, motivation,
  energy, passion and empowerment
• adapt organisational actions in new, self-defined
  ways
• become more organised by putting the house in
  order i.e. structures, systems, competencies,
  funding
• have more trust internally
• change the way the organisation relates to
  others, for example, the communities in which
  they work and the donors that fund them.

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Motivation central issues to adress

• What are the most common motives for Capacity
  building?
• What are the most important?
• Who in the organisation has the strongest motive
  for change?
• Who knows about the problem?
• Who can solve it?
• Who cares about it enough to change?
• Collective motive A critical mass of
  dissatisfaction with the status quo can develop
  into a collective motive for change.
• Any hidden motives?

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Good Capacity Builders

• Develop participant ownership of the process
  ensure participant ownership
• Take a people-centered approach to change
• See the inter-relationships between elements and
  examine how
• Understand and challenge power-dynamics in a
  sensitive and courageous way
• Using a variety of methods, including
  experiential
• Balance structure and flexibility
• Engage in open and equal dialogue and
  communication

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Good Capacity Builders

• Recognize and respond sensitively to the
  influences of culture and context.
• Can shift and adapt to a changing context

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Contents

• Based on organisational as well as political
  baselines.
• Relevant and environmental knowledge and research
  adjusted according to the target groups.
• Policy analysis, knowledge of political system
  and advocacy skills.
• Organisational knowledge, skills and methodology
• Content for personal development and
  strengthening Culture, traditions, songs,
  creativity, responsibility for own training and
  part of program.
• Practical work and realistic assignments between
  training.

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Why Culture?

• Culture is the missing link to development in
  Africa
• Professor Wangari Maathai
• Culture is the wisdom and stored competence from
  all generations before us
• Culture is the common identity of a country and
  an organisation
• Culture is a way to build pride, strength and
  values in the individual
• Creativity is like a muscle if unused it looses
  its power
• Example Proverbs in use

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Monitoring and evaluation

• Establishing the baselines
• CB Contested Aims, objectives and indicators?
• A focal area for the EMS/MIS
• External and internal
• Long term perspective and focus
• Running and at milestones
• Several areas for ME
• Focus on impact Use CB definition what impact
  has the CB had on the action of the organisations
  and individuals?
• Impact on policies, processes and implementation.

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Blooms taxonomy

• Remembering Can the student recall or remember
  the information? - define, duplicate, list,
  memorize, recall, repeat, reproduce state...
• Understanding ... Explain concepts? Classify,
  describe, discuss, explain, identify, locate,
  recognize, report, select, translate, paraphrase
• Applying Use the information in a new way?
  Choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ,
  illustrate, interpret, operate, schedule, sketch,
  solve, use, write.
• Analysing Distinguish between the different
  parts? - appraise, compare, contrast, criticize,
  differentiate, discriminate, distinguish,
  examine, experiment, question, test.
• Evaluating Justify a stand or decision? -
  appraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support,
  value, evaluate
• Innovation and Synthesis Create new thoughts or
  point of view - assemble, construct, create,
  design, develop, formulate, write.
• ) Analysing, evaluating and creating main
  tools for political change.

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Empowerment

• They used to say we were unproductive because we
  were lazy and drunkards. All lies. Now that we
  are respected as men, were going to show
  everyone that we were never drunkards nor lazy.
  We were exploited. (Chilean peasant leader,
  quoted by Freire, 1972)
• The basic, elementary criterion (for development)
  is whether or not the society is a being for
  itself, i.e. its political, economic and
  cultural decision-making power is located within.
  (Freire, 1972)

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Conceptual Frameworks

• 1. Poverty-driven Capacity Development?
• A key challenge for making CD more poverty-driven
  is seen to derive from the potential matrix of
• (i) a large and diverse number of actors that may
  intervene in a CD supply chain,
• (ii) the different accountability pressures each
  actor faces.
• 2. Capacity Development An Analytical Framework
• It is possible to operationalise the definition
  of CD along the two dimensions of (i) societal
  level, and (ii) task complexity, to arrive at a
  matrix of CD needs.

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The way forward

• How can Capacity Building contribute to the needs
  and challenges of your organisations?
• What are your challenges to the EMS strategy?

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Evaluation of program

• Go through program give each element points
  from 1-10.
• Comment if you want.
• Final comment on general issues
• Overall value
• Information on worlshop before you came?
• Information on EMS earlier
• Information on EMS now