Capacity for Capacity Development

Sammanfattning: The contrasting reality between the recognition of the effectiveness of capacity development as a path to achieving development and the apparent ineffectiveness of many capacity development interventions brings into question the ability of organisations to take on their envisaged role as external partners. Through interviews with informants from eleven different organisations, the study generates empirical insights into which challenges organisations encounter in their efforts to strengthen their capacities for capacity development, and how these challenges can be overcome. Based on a theoretical foundation that brings together the two concepts of capacity and change management, the study finds that the challenges organisations encounter reside in the external environment, at the organisational level and at the individual level. The challenges include a cultural practice in the wider sector that favours short-term interventions; lack of sufficient knowledge-based resources; lack of leadership buy-in; imbedding the change into the organisational culture; staff not internalising learning; and resistance to change. To overcome the challenges in the external environment, the study finds that organisations need to strengthen their influential capacities. To overcome challenges at the organisational level, the study finds that organisations need to develop a strong evidence-based case for change and develop a better understanding of the implication of organisational culture on change efforts. Finally, to overcome challenges at the individual level, the study suggests that organisations should change their approach to learning in favour of creating a psychologically safe learning environment that enables staff to learn with and through others and from experience.