Development jargon decodedGlobal development This article is more than 10 years oldDevelopment jargon decoded: capacity building
This article is more than 10 years oldThis week, our series decoding development language explores why capacity building is like a painstakingly primped coiffureAge: Like local ownership, its blood brother and fellow sustainable development prerequisite, capacity building came into its own as a concept during the 1990s – though its essential principles, derived from organisational development, have been around for a while.
Appearance: Think Cheryl Cole's hair: huge, shiny, and for ever new; a vast and seemingly endless expanse of fabulousness.
Seeming endless? Oh yes. The clue is right up there in the title: "building" implies an ongoing process, not the finished article. In theory, capacity building is about giving people the wherewithal – the knowledge, skills, and resources – to shape their own development. In practice, it goes on ad infinitum – quite handy when it comes to keeping the NGO community in gainful employment.
So "capacity building" never just becomes "capacity"? Would you do yourself out of a job?
If it meant I didn't have to keep asking you stupid questions, possibly. Speaking of which, what's local ownership got to do with capacity building? In a nutshell, local ownership and capacity building are the Beavis and Butthead of the development world: not only can you not have one without the other, both border on the incomprehensible.
Come again? Put it like this: local ownership is about empowering communities, but communities can't be empowered if people and institutions don't have the required knowhow, abilities and support mechanisms – or, if you like, capacity.
Like? I'm not even sure what you're on about. Please clarify. Well, at the risk of confusing things further, the OECD defines capacity development as: "The process by which individuals, groups and organisations, institutions and countries develop, enhance and organise their systems, resources and knowledge; all reflected in their abilities, individually and collectively, to perform functions, solve problems and achieve objectives."
You mean you're now trying to explain capacity building by referencing capacity development? Isn't being asked one question and answering another a bit Sir Humphrey Appleby? Not in the least. It's the first rule of development jargon: if you can't explain a concept clearly, swiftly reference something even more obscure and arcane, lest your audience should start dwelling on things. Alternatively, reduce said concept to a ludicrous acronym, like ICB or CCB.
ICB and CCB? Oh, do keep up. ICB is short for institutional capacity building; it's about strengthening the ability of existing organisations – government ministries, NGOs, universities and so on – to achieve development objectives. And CCB stands for community capacity building, which is to do with providing people with the necessary skills, opportunities and resources. But then we've already covered that.
We have? You could've fooled me. It all sounds a bit CGSM, as Sir Humphrey would say. What?
It stands for "consignment of geriatric shoe manufacturers" … in other words, a load of old cobblers. Not unlike your efforts to explain key development concepts. Once and for all: what is capacity building? Well, Oxfam says it's "an approach to development rather than a set of discrete or prepackaged interventions".
Isn't that a bit woolly? I don't make the rules. And anyway, it gets worse. According to the UNDP (pdf), capacity is development.
I'm beginning to wish I hadn't asked. Me too.
Don't say: "I lack the capacity to grasp this concept."
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