Capacity Development

The United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) defines capacity development as

“the process through which individuals organisations and societies obtain, strengthen

and maintain the capabilities to set and achieve their own development objectives over time.”

Thus, capacity development is related to the development and strengthening of institutions,

mechanisms, and capacity of all stakeholders. Even the Sendai Framework stresses enhancing

the technical, financial, and administrative capabilities of all institutions to cope with

hazard risks of different kinds. The capacity development process is driven from inside the

community with the existing assets. Therefore, the key ingredients of capacity development are:

• It relates to a country’s intrinsic capacity to manage the development process and disasters.
• It is a continuous process of change.
• There is no universal pattern of capacity development, and it mostly depends on the country’s own path of development.
• Capacity development is multidimensional and complex in nature.
• Foreign aid may play an important role in the capacity development of a country.

Levels of Capacity Development: 

According to UNDP, capacity development issues must be addressed at three levels:

• Enabling environment:  The enabling environment relates to things such as policies, legislation, institutional arrangements, leadership, political processes, power relations and social norms. These factors govern how different parts of society prioritize, operate, and engage each other. If favourable conditions are developed, it will allow effective capacity development.
• Organisational level: It relates to internal policy systems, strategies and arrangements that help any institution to work together and achieve the goal of capacity development. Since capacity assessment is mostly done at the institutional level, it is important to improve the specific capacities like institutional arrangements, leadership, knowledge and accountability of the institutions working on capacity development.
• Individual level: It relates to the skill and knowledge of individual persons, which can be improved through formal education, training, developing practices and networks in communities, etc.

Types of Capacities: 

There are two kinds of capacity which are the functional capacity and technical capacity, which has to be developed at all the three levels: According to the UNDP, functional capacity includes:

• Capacity to engage stakeholders: It implies motivating and mobilizing stakeholders, building partnerships, and networks, managing diversity, etc.

• Capacity to assess situation and define the goals: It implies evaluating different information and then developing goals for capacity development.

• Capacity to formulate policies and strategies: Once the goals have been set, relevant execution policies and strategies have to be developed. The capacity to manage human and financial resources. Assessment capacity, i.e., accumulation of lessons learnt, collecting feedback and adjusting the policies and strategies accordingly.

• On the contrary, technical capacity relates to specialised knowledge of a particular area or sector, such as climate change, epidemics, legal issues, etc.

In order to make long-term, sustainable progress toward these capacity development goals, it is necessary to create supportive policy settings and strong health systems that have the necessary ability and resources to successfully deliver services and reach the underserved. To address health as a system-wide issue, this requires the ability to integrate policies, interventions, finance, and outcome monitoring across sectors.