The Capacity Building Concept

History of Capacity Building

Since the early 1970's, the lead within the UN system for action and thinking on what was then called institution building was given to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and it has offered guidance to its staff and member governments. This involved building-up the ability of basic national organisations, in areas such as civil aviation, meteorology, agriculture, health, nutrition to allow them to perform their tasks in the best way possible. All UN specialised agencies were supposed to actively support capacity building in the areas for which they were technically qualified e.g. FAO in the rural sector and agriculture, WHO in health etc, but they achieved mixed results.

By 1991 the term had evolved and had transformed into capacity building. UNDP defined 'capacity building' as the creation of an enabling environment with appropriate policy and legal frameworks, institutional development, including community participation (of women in particular), human resources development and strengthening of managerial systems, adding that, UNDP recognizes that capacity building is a long-term, continuing process, in which all stakeholders participate (ministries, local authorities, non-governmental organizations and water user groups, professional associations, academics and others. (citation: UNDP).

By 1992, capacity building became a central concept in Agenda 21 and in other United Nation Conference on Environmental and Development(UNCED) agreements.

By 1998 the UN General Assembly had commissioned and received evaluations of the impact of the UN system's support for capacity building. These evaluations were carried out by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs as part of the UNGA's triennial policy review during which it looks at all UN system development activities (See UN Publications in External Links section).

Since then, the issue of capacity building has become a major priority within the global conventions, the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the international communities.

In 2002, the World Summit in Sustainable Development (WSSD) and the Second GEF Assembly reaffirmed the priority of building the capacity of developing countries. the WSSD recommended that GEF resources be used to provide financial resources to developing countries to meet their capacity needs for training, technical know how and strengthening national institutions.

Capacity Building is, however, not limited to international aid work. More recently, capacity building is being used by governments to transform community and industry approaches to social and environmental problems.

Evolution of the concept of Capacity Building

New philosophy of Capacity Building for post-modern societies

• Institutional development
• Science/Technology development
• Mature democratic systems
• Capacity Building target groups (Government, Market sectors and Institutions)

What is Capacity Building today?

Over the past five years, a broad common conceptual framework has emerged. This approach is increasingly being adopted by the development cooperation community. It involves a system perspective that addresses various levels of environmental management capacities (i.e. capacities of institutions, individuals, overall countries and regions) . This approach puts greater emphasis on the capacity development process itself, on local ownership of its process and on equal partnership in its support .

Capacity Building involves human resource development, the development of organizations and promoting the emergence of an overall policy environment, conductive to the generation of appropriate responses to emerging needs

The concept of Capacity Building includes the following:

• Human resource development, the process of equipping individuals with the understanding, skills and access to information, knowledge and training that enables them to perform effectively.
• Organizational development, the elaboration of management structures, processes and procedures, not only within organizations but also the management of relationships between the different organizations and sectors (public, private and community).
• Institutional and legal framework development, making legal and regulatory changes to enable organizations, institutions and agencies at all levels and in all sectors to enhance their capacities (citation: Urban Capacity Building Network).

Levels of Capacity Building

• Individual: refers to the process of changing actittudes and behaviours-imparting knowledge and developing skills while maximizing the benefits of participation, knowledge exchange and ownership.
• Institutional: focuses on the overall organizational performance and functioning capabilities, as well as the ability of an organization to adapt to change.
• Systemic: emphasizes the overall policy framework in which individuals and organizations operate and interact with the external environment.

External links

See UN publications available on line at:

• Capacity-Building supported by the United Nations: some evaluations and some lessons

• Capacity-Building for Poverty Eradication: Analysis of, and Lessons from, Evaluation of UN System Support to Countries' Efforts

Roadmap for Capacity Building for ICZM

List of articles on Capacity Building for ICZM

Capacity Building Network main page