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Evaluating capacity development : experiences from research and development organizations around the world

HORTON, Douglas
et al
2003

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This book is the result of the Evaluating Capacity Development (ECD) Project, begun by ISNAR in January 2000, which aimed to improve capacity development efforts in research and development organizations through the use of evaluation. It explains how the project used an action-learning approach, bringing together people from various countries and different types of organisations. Six evaluation studies were conducted over the course of three years: exploring capacity development in a rural development NGO in Bangladesh; towards strategic management in a Cuban agricultural research institute; understanding capacity development in a plant genetic resources centre in Ghana; assessing organisational change in an agricultural faculty in Nicaragua; strengthening participatory research capacities in a Philippines root crops research centre; and expanding capacities in a rural development institute in Vietnam. Chapter 1 provides background reading on the ECD project that gave rise to the book. Chapter 2 discusses basic concepts of organisational capacity, capacity development and evaluation. Chapter 3 addresses two fundamental issues: why managers should be concerned with organisational capacity development and why they should evaluate capacity development efforts. Chapter 4 discusses issues related to the 'how' of capacity development. Chapter 5 discusses partnerships for capacity development while 6 outlines approaches and methods for evaluating organisational capacity development. Chapter 7 discusses how to utilize evaluation processes and results to advance capacity development and performance in an organisation

Patronage or partnership : local capacity building in humanitarian crises

SMILIE, Ian
Ed
2001

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This book reviews recent experiences in strengthening local institutions, governmental and non-governmental alike, in six countries on five continents. It examines various aspects of the tensions between international initiatives to save lives or to reconstruct the fabric of societies, and the parallel and sometimes competing international commitment to "capacitation" - to building longer term skills locally. The last chapter reviews the case studies and attempts to draw out the learning in terms of conceptual, operational, political and motivational issues

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