Conceptualising and core models in international practice.

In December 2013, Dr Susan Rosina Whittle and Irish colleagues Anne Colgan and Mary Rafferty presented their review of Capacity Building at a seminar hosted by The Centre for Effectives Services (CES) in Dublin.

Commissioned by The Atlantic Philanthropies, the review depicts the wide range of perspectives in use about capacity and ‘capacity building’ practice.

The Review:

• asserts that capacity building is influenced by understandings about the nature of organisational and social change;
• suggests that the focus of intervention should be on sequenced and planned change initiatives;
• looks at what forms of investment, and by whom, are needed to embed newly developed organisational and societal capacities;
• emphasises the importance of understanding both the role of the change agent and the history of change in developing capacities in organisations;
• signposts a number of practical ways to help practitioners assess capacity developments;
• stresses that capacity building in a social field requires a different and specialised approach.

Powerpoint:

Links to the review, presentations and case studies can be found on the CES website.