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What is capacity building?

Capacity building (or capacity development) is the process by which individuals and organizations obtain, improve, and retain the skills, knowledge, tools, equipment, and other resources needed to do their jobs competently. It is fundamentally about improving effectiveness, at the micro and macro organizational levels.

The capacity building focuses on furthering an organization’s ability to do new things and improve what they currently do. Most simply, capacity building improves the organization’s performance and enhances its ability to function and continue to stay relevant within a rapidly changing environment.

Capacity development typically involves training, mentoring, financial and/or other resource support to individuals and organizations from external sources. This development does not happen overnight. It is a process that may take several years, and often involves experts from many fields. Typically capacity building will result in the adoption of new skills and knowledge as well as systems to sustain and expand these improvements over time.

According to the definition of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP): “In the global context, capacity refers to the ability of individuals and institutions to make and implement decisions and perform functions in an effective, efficient and sustainable manner.

At the individual level, capacity building refers to the process of changing attitudes and behaviors-imparting knowledge, and developing skills while maximizing the benefits of participation, knowledge exchange, and ownership.

At the institutional level, it focuses on the overall organizational performance and functioning capabilities, as well as the ability of an organization to adapt to change.

At the systemic level, it emphasizes the overall policy framework in which individuals and organizations operate and interact with the external environment.”

Stages of capacity building

The UNDP outlines that community capacity building takes place at an individual, institutional, societal level and non-training level. Specific and targeted capacity development initiatives need to be undertaken at every single level. Potential capacity building initiatives for each cluster are:

Individual level

Training programmes, business development activities, workshops for in-depth discussion of specific topics; conferences.

Institutional level

Development of internal policies, organizational and procedural restructuring.

Systemic level

Advocacy initiatives, consultations, open dialogue, reforms.

Impacts of capacity building

Capacity building is valuable and important because of its many long-term impacts which include:

1. Purposefully minimizing an over-reliance on outside experts as sources of knowledge, resources, and solutions to community issues. By preventing a dependency relationship on outsiders from forming, capacity building encourages local people to take action on local issues themselves.
2. It fosters a sense of ownership and empowerment, so that community partners gain greater control over their own future development.
3. The strengthened confidence, skills, knowledge, and resources that increase from capacity building efforts on one project may enhance a community partner’s ability to envision and take action on other projects.
4. Capacity building efforts are sensitive to the particularities of local culture and context, and, as a result, often lead to more feasible and appropriate community solutions than approaches that lack a capacity building focus.
5. Capacity building approaches to community work acknowledge that growth, learning, and change occur reciprocally; that is, both you and your community partner are expected to be different at the end of your collaborative community work. Ideally, your community partner will be more effective and successful in addressing community issues, and you will learn about working with community partners more effectively and respectfully.

The capacity you build as a person determines the level of success you will enjoy, as the Bible puts it, “It was no sooner said than done–a huge haul of fish, straining the nets past capacity. Luke 5:6”