A core tactic for social change initiatives in any field, from technology dissemination to education, to community organizing, is “capacity building.” In almost all cases, capacity building involves accessing and transferring external expertise into the community or the organization. Often an expert personally comes into the environment to educate and train and, yes, certify. If I hadn’t seen thousands of project plans, this would seem like an unfair caricature. But time and time again, proposed capacity-building plans look like experts parachuting in with short-term training, immediate surveys of taught knowledge and attendance, distribution of certificates, and then departure.
A different mindset of “capacity development” – defined as supporting others to enhance their own capacity continuously – can create a powerful shift. When your goal is capacity development that fosters an indigenous capability to access expertise and skills, you’ll get potent program designs emphasizing local ownership and experiential learning. Capacity development is assessed by its long-term outcomes and not post-workshop surveys. Effective and sustainable capacity development occurs at an intersection of access to resources, skills, desire to learn, and enabling circumstances.
If your strategy relies upon enhancing the internal or external capacity of organizations or individuals, consider these six questions:
Are we developing skills through experiential learning that is a cultural fit aligned with individual motivation for learning?
Are we ensuring long-term access to the resources needed to achieve the new capabilities?
Have we planned for realistic levels of attrition or lack of adoption of new capabilities?
Are we creating or ensuring the enabling circumstances to exercise and realize the benefits of the new capabilities?
Are we supporting the networks and partnerships for ongoing, self-propelled capacity enhancement?
Do we measure success by the use of new skills so we can adapt in the short term and assess outcomes in the long term?
In a time when so much education is instantly accessible via the internet, expertise is just a click away. The experts matter less – pipe them in by video. How will you promote learning – i.e., the individual’s active choice to participate and engage? The success of capacity development in a world of on-line expertise is shaped by how you create access to resources, connection to networks, the enabling environment, and a culture of learning.
“A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1841)