| abstract | - Capacity and Capacity Development The United Nations Development Programme is the UN’s global development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners. UNDP Mission Statement UNDP defines capacity as “the ability of individuals, institutions and societies to perform functions, solve problems, and set and achieve objectives in a sustainable manner.” Capacity development (CD) is thereby “the process through which the abilities to do so are obtained, strengthened, adapted and maintained over time.” This approach standard has also been used by OECD/DAC and the UN Development Group to inform their CD frameworks. Capacity Development Process Capacity development is a primarily endogenous and domestically driven process. The definitions above therefore lend themselves to be taken into country-, sector- or situation-specific contexts, to be defined in very practical terms per that application, i.e., by asking the capacity for what and for whom. Capacity development is an inherently political and complex process that cannot be rushed, and outcomes cannot be expected to evolve in a controlled and linear fashion. The diagram above shows UNDP’s articulation of the cyclical nature of the capacity development process. This is embedded in UNDP’s Results Management Guide and informs the programme cycle as prescriptive policy. Long-term development should be a nationally led and managed process that builds upon existing capacity in designing and implementing effective strategies to further boost capacity development. Our approach in nurturing MDG-based national development strategies integrates capacity diagnostics and strategies into the heart of that process. Capacity development must be taken into the core of development planning, policy and financing if it is not to be an ineffective add-on or after-thought. Even when requested to do so, UNDP should operate in a way where we do not provide direct support services in the short to medium term without a capacity-development exit strategy. Here it is also important to mention the vital role that South-South cooperation has in capacity development, bringing as it does a unique transfer of skills between developing countries themselves. -- Statement by Kemal Derviş, UNDP Administrator to the Executive Board of UNDP/UNFPA, 11 September 2006 So what’s new? UNDP has been historically involved in capacity development approaches, both from a state-building perspective as well as from a critique of technical cooperation. Given the observed limitations in previous capacity development approaches , UNDP embarked on a rigid analysis of capacity development case experiences, producing three seminal publications compiling best practices and lessons learned on capacity development programming. The UNDP Framework for Capacity Development UNDP defines capacity as: “the ability of individuals, institutions and societies to perform functions, solve problems, and set and achieve objectives in a sustainable manner.” Capacity development (CD) is thereby the “process through which these abilities are obtained, strengthened, adapted and maintained over time”. The capacity development process is very similar to the regular programme management cycle of assessment, planning and formulation, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Capacities for What? The UNDP framework distinguishes between “technical” and “functional” capacities. • Technical capacities, also referred to as ‘hard’ capacities, are associated with particular areas of professional expertise or knowledge, such as economics, engineering, fiscal management, agriculture, education, etc. Technical capacities vary and are closely related to the sector or organizational context in focus. • Functional capacities, also referred to as ‘cross-cutting’ capacities, are associated with programme, policy, development, and change management expertise or knowledge that are relevant regardless of sector, profession or organization. These are the capacities that UNDP focuses primarily on supporting in conjunction with the technical capacities, particularly on emerging functional capacities that are less easy to define and often depend on much broader, societywide rules, norms and values. There are five functional capacities that from UNDP experience are critical to policy and programme support. These capacities are not new and may look quite simple and straightforward – we are all doing these! However, based on UNDP’s development experience, it is the oversight of these capacities, the indifference to their importance, and inadequate recognition of capacity weaknesses in addressing them, that could contribute to the non-sustainability and failure of many development programmes. These functional capacities are: • Engaging in Multi-Stakeholder Dialogues - This capacity relates to capacity to engage and build consensus among all stakeholders (e.g., all relevant public, private and societal agents, as well as external partners). It includes the skills to perform the following: identify, motivate and mobilize stakeholders; create partnerships and networks; raise awareness; develop an enabling environment that engages civil society and the private sector; manage large group processes and open dialogue; mediate divergent interests; and establish collaborative mechanisms. • Assessing a Situation and Creating a Vision and Mandate - This capacity pertains to the abilities to effectively access, gather, analyze and synthesize data and information, and translate it into a vision and/or a mandate. Applicable to institutional development and programmatic support, the objective is to strengthen capacities to understand and respond to issues holistically through effective synthesis of information, and anticipate long-term needs and development planning. It focuses on the ability to assess desired capacity levels in the future against capacities that exist at present, thus articulating the capacity needs that can lead to capacity development strategies. • Formulating Policies and Strategies - Conceptualizing and formulating policies, legislations, strategies, and programmes require analyzing a range of development parameters that may affect needs and performance in a given area; exploring different perspectives; long-term strategizing; and setting objectives. At the enabling environment level, it may also include conceptualizing sectoral and cross-sectoral policies, legislative and regulatory frameworks, inter-ministerial/inter-sectoral coordination mechanisms, participatory planning and budgeting and other arrangements for prioritization, planning and formulation of programmes and projects. • Budgeting, Management and Implementation - This category includes project management capacities that are essential to the implementation of any type of policy, legislation, strategy and programme. It also includes execution aspects of programme and project implementation; costing of capacity development activities; mobilization and management of human, material and financial resources; and selection of technologies and procurement of equipment. Core management functions, such as public financial management and procurement are the main focus, as well as other conditions that facilitate the implementation of policies, strategies and programmes and effective service delivery. • Monitoring and Evaluation - This pertains to the monitoring of progress, measuring of results and codification of lessons, for learning and feedback to ensure accountability to partners and the ultimate beneficiaries of development. It also covers results-based management and monitoring and evaluation systems, as a means of reporting to donors. It naturally links back to policy dialogue, planning and improved management of implementation through drawing lessons from experience. For UNDP, within each functional and technical capacity mentioned above, there are several core issues that can and should be explored from a human development perspective. Not all of these issues will necessarily be analyzed in any given assessment, but they provide a mapping of critical areas of capacity common to any country, to which a capacity assessment could be applied. The selection of core issues defines the scope and content of a capacity diagnostic exercise. The core issues in the UNDP Capacity Assessment Framework are: • institutional development; • leadership; • knowledge management; and • mutual accountability. Human rights and gender equality overlay each of these core issues.
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