Resources - Past work - Capacity, change and performance study


Resources - Past work - Capacity, change and performance study

ECDPM completed a five year research programme entitled “Capacity, Change and Performance" in 2009. The research provides fresh perspectives on the topic of capacity and its development. It does so by highlighting endogenous perspectives: how capacity develops from within, rather than focusing on what outsiders do to induce it. The research also embraces ideas on capacity development drawn from literature outside the context of development cooperation.

Key questions addressed by the study are: What does capacity look like? How does capacity develop endogenously? What is the driving force behind successful capacity development? Does better capacity necessarily lead to better performance? What can outsiders do to support capacity development?

Although the research draws implications for international development cooperation, it does not specifically examine donor agency experiences in capacity development, or related issues of aid management and effectiveness. In total, 16 case studies were prepared that embrace a wide spectrum of capacity situations covering different sectors, objectives, geographic locations and organisational histories, from churches in Papua New Guinea to a tax office in Rwanda to nation-wide networks in Brazil. The case studies are complemented by seven thematic papers, and five workshop reports.

The final report is written for people interested and involved in capacity development work. It offers insights as much for managers and staff of public sector and civil society organisations as it does for external agencies, either those providing capacity development services to local organisations or donors that finance capacity development work.

We produced a Policy Management Brief which highlights the key findings and conclusions of the final report and that presents implications for external agencies engaged in capacity development in the context of international development cooperation.

This study was funded by:

ACBF (Zimbabwe)
AusAID (Australia)
CIDA (Canada)
COEP (Brazil)
DFID (United Kingdom)
DGIS (the Netherlands)
Fondazione Piero e Lucille Corti (Italy)
JICA (Japan)
OECD/DAC
Sida (Sweden)
SNV (Netherlands)
UNDP

We invite the visitors of this web-page to give their views on the study, to share experiences and new insights on capacity development and to provide links to complementary information via the attached Capacity Study blog (forthcoming)

The visitor can access the different papers produced in the context of this study on Capacity, Change and Performance via the following web-pages:

• Synthesis | study report and interim reports
• Analysis | case studies
• Reflection | thematic papers
• Methodology
• Policy dialogue | Workshops | Calendar
• Complementary papers
• Discussion papers in French | documents de réflexions en français

......

....

.....

Permanent URL for this page: www.ecdpm.org/euexternalaction_resources_capacitystudy