{"id":996,"date":"2025-10-02T04:00:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/capacity-development-as-a-core-element-in-development-efforts\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T04:00:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:00:59","slug":"capacity-development-as-a-core-element-in-development-efforts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/capacity-on-the-brink-of-maturity\/capacity-development-as-a-core-element-in-development-efforts\/","title":{"rendered":"Capacity Development As A Core Element In Development Efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"content column wide left normal content view\" id=\"content\">\n<div class=\"rounded-corner\"><\/div>\n<article class=\"fader\">\n<div class=\"overlay\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"image\">\n\t<\/div>\n<header class=\"contents\">\n<h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCapacity Development as a core element in development efforts?<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n<div class=\"addthis\">\n\t\t<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><\/p>\n<div class=\"addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style\" addthis:title=\"Capacity Development as a core element in development efforts?\">\n<div class=\"notification\">\n<form method=\"post\" action=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\" style=\"display: inline;\">\n\t<button class=\"follow\" type=\"submit\" name=\"ActionAddToNotification\" title=\"Follow this blog\" id=\"author\"><\/button><br \/>\n\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"ContentNodeID\" value=\"6205\"\/><br \/>\n\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"UserRedirectURI\" value=\"\/Blogs\/Capacity-on-the-brink-of-maturity\"\/><br \/>\n\t<\/form>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t<a class=\"addthis_button_facebook_like\" fb:like:layout=\"button_count\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t\t<a class=\"addthis_button_tweet\" tw:via=\"thebrokeronline\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t\t<a class=\"addthis_counter addthis_pill_style\"><\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<p>\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/js\/250\/addthis_widget.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n\t\t<!-- AddThis Button END -->\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<h3>\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/authors\/henke-roger\/\">Roger Henke<\/a>\t\t|<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong>21 March 2025<\/strong><br \/>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"body contents\">\n<aside class=\"textblock\">\n<article>\n<h1>About the author<\/h1>\n<div class=\"tleft\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"tright\">\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/authors\/henke-roger\/\">Roger<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/>Henke<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tRoger Henke, former ICCO Program Coordinator Cambodia.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/authors\/henke-roger\/\">full profile<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/article>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\t<!-- body --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">The Food for Thought publication accompanying this debate, \u2018Capacity Development in Practice\u2019, is as explicit an expression of the title of the debate, CD as core to development, as it gets. The question is if the title reflects the most promising way ahead if one wants to improve CD\u2019s effectiveness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">The invitation to the debate mentions \u2018CD fatigue\u2019 among donor agencies and others, a clear indication of the \u2018lost its shine\u2019 stage in the fashion life cycle that the concept and the practices based upon it are in. A better metaphor would probably be the pendulum swing so I am certainly not expecting the demise of CD, but the fatigue does signal a need for rethinking that goes beyond the not very provocative content of the Food for Thought provided by SNV.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Organizational sociology 101 would make one intuit that radical perspectives on CD are not to be expected from an organization that self defines as a CD service provider. The content fulfils that expectation. Its ethos is one of \u2018doing what we already do even better\u2019. My argument is not that there isn\u2019t anything to improve regarding current CD practices, or that attention to multi-level and multi-actor dimensions and professionalization are not worthwhile. However, I do not believe that such improvements are going to deal with the CD fatigue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">A very popular management classic amongst the contributors to this publication, Gareth Morgan\u2019s 1986 \u2018Images of Organization\u2019, argues that using a different metaphor for something is going to result in different understandings of how that something works. E.g. thinking about an organization as if it is a machine is not the same as thinking about it as an organism. The point that the book makes is that all theory is metaphor and comes with in-build biases, no perspective on its own reveals \u2018reality\u2019, the closest one can get to it is to a pursue multi-perspective analysis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">The contributions to Capacity Development in Practice all seem rather similar to each other in how they situate CD. Translating that similarity into a visual image, immediately suggest the most obvious perspectival shift for going beyond their inward looking practitioners\u2019 perspective: move CD out of the core.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">The preface of the book states that practical experience has led to some \u2018provocative ideas\u2019 like \u201c[c]apacity development\u2026involves unleashing collaboration but also dealing with power and politics\u201d (p.xix). This statement shows what the world looks like from the inside out: the context of power and politics emerges at the horizon as an externality to be \u2018dealt with\u2019. The CD fatigue shows that the \u2018dealing\u2019 is too often unsuccessful to keep enthusiasm alive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Following Morgan, a more promising move is to put the outside at the core, place \u201c\u2026power and interests of key political, economic, and security actors at the center of the development process.\u201d (p.2) This quote is from a recent Asia Foundation paper (1) that argues for just that, labeling this a \u201cpolitical settlements\u201d framework . The labeling is less important than the perspective, which is by no means new, with plenty roots in political economy approaches, but I use this particular example because it so explicitly argues for the emergence of a \u2018new\u2019 prominence in the rethinking of aid: foregrounding what is the background in a CD centric perspective on development efforts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">I expect that rethinking CD from a perspective that puts power and politics at the center is going to result in better answers to what underlies the CD fatigue. It would be good if those who are so positive about applying Gareth Morgan\u2019s insights in their practice would be more willing to apply those insights to their reflections upon their practice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n\t\t<i>(1) Parks, T. &#038; Cole, W. (July 2010), Political Settlements: Implications for International Development Policy and Practice, The Asia Foundation, Occasional paper, No. 2 <\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"credit\">Photo credit main picture: Photo by Pulpolux !!!<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<!-- body -->\n\t<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"commentform content column wide left\">\n<div class=\"topright\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"bottomleft\"><\/div>\n<h1>Comments<\/h1>\n<div class=\"form\">\n\t<a id=\"formstart\"><\/a><\/p>\n<form enctype=\"multipart\/form-data\" method=\"post\" action=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Your comment will not be automatically posted but first reviewed by the editor. If the editor has questions with respect to the content of your comment, you will be contacted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"input-row\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"reaction-name\">Name:<\/label><\/p>\n<div class=\"input\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<input id=\"reaction-name\" class=\"halfbox\" type=\"text\" name=\"Name\" value=\"\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"input-row\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"reaction-subject\">Subject:<\/label><\/p>\n<div class=\"input\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<input id=\"reaction-subject\" class=\"halfbox\" type=\"text\" maxlength=\"40\" name=\"Subject\" value=\"\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"input-row\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"reaction-comment\">Message:<\/label><\/p>\n<div class=\"input\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<textarea id=\"reaction-comment\" class=\"halfbox\" name=\"Comment\"><\/textarea>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"submit-row\">\n\t\t\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\t\t\t\tvar RecaptchaTheme='white';\n\t\t\t\tvar RecaptchaLang='';\n\t\t\t\tvar RecaptchaOptions = {\n\t\t\t\ttheme: RecaptchaTheme,\n\t\t\t\tlang: RecaptchaLang\n\t\t\t\t};\n\t\t\t\t<\/script><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/challenge-k-6lfb9quaaaaaaepvwx5fiki25xfnxbh85tkko1-d.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n\t<noscript><br \/>\n  \t\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/noscript_k-6lfb9quaaaaaaepvwx5fiki25xfnxbh85tkko1-d_ext_iframe\/\" height=\"300\" width=\"500\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n  \t\t<textarea name=\"recaptcha_challenge_field\" rows=\"3\" cols=\"40\"><\/textarea><br \/>\n  \t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"recaptcha_response_field\" value=\"manual_challenge\"\/><br \/>\n\t<\/noscript>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"submit-row\">\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"grey\" type=\"submit\"><span class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Submit<\/span><\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" value=\"6234\" name=\"NodeID\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" value=\"\/Blogs\/Capacity-on-the-brink-of-maturity\/Capacity-Development-as-a-core-element-in-development-efforts\" name=\"RedirectURL\"\/><br \/>\n\t<\/form>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"subitem content column wide left\">\n<article class=\"comment\">\n<div class=\"topright\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"bottomleft\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"comment\">\n<div class=\"icon\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/extension\/broker\/design\/broker\/images\/comment\/icon.gif\">\n\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<h3><a id=\"comment_6243\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">The importance of the &#8216;political&#8217; (and other dimensions)<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>Dear Roger,<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\nLet me first say that I fully agree with you that political dynamics do indeed need a better place in the CD domain. And in the development sector in general. But it also appears that this is not something easy to do. In that context I do feel that the contribution Tom Parks and Bill Cole  make in the Asia Foundation publication that you mention (I had the pleasure meeting both of them 2 weeks ago)is indeed very valuable! If it had been out when we were developing the book we would for sure have mentioned it or even asked them for a contribution. The way they discuss practical entries to influence &#8216;political settlements&#8217; and their initial typology of 6 approaches in doing that are very helpful. Another recent publication on political dimensions of development programs is \u00d6wnewrhsip and Political Steering in Developing Countries&quot; by GTZ. More close to the dominant aid modalities,  but also quite relevant and useful.<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\nWhile understanding political dynamics is important to all development practitioners, actively working with these is challenging. This is certainly not something to pick-up too easily for just every development practitioner. Understanding CD as multi-actor dynamics is in that sense a modest, but we believe essential and practical professional framing for any (capacity) development practitioner to work with. And a range of cases in the book show how that helps to implicitly also tackle political issues and dynamics.<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\nWe must also recognise that political dimension is not the total reality. It is indeed as Gareth Morgan says one major perspective. It is certainly very influential as a (dis)enabling factor, but if one would only think and act &#8216;politically&#8217; there would not be much innovation and inspiration in the world. Change luckily comes from more sources than politics.<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\nIn the book we have consciously brought together people with different mindsets (not just similar ones as you suggest).<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\nSome are more political-institutional (Rajani, Boesen), others come from process facilitation, participation and leadership (Woodhill, Bojer, McMahon, Dia and Eggink). And there are authors focusing on knowledge and learning (Parcell, Greijn, Britton, Guyt) or ones that tap more from what Morgan would call &#8216;organic&#8217; approaches to organisational development (Kaplan, Collingwood and Richter). Markets and demand-supply feature (Mwesige, Ubels) as do management consultancy and professional development (Acquaye Baddoo and Champion et al). And quite a number do apply an eclectic mixture of elements in the cases that they describe.<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\nI agree it is indeed the ability of applying different lenses, as Gareth  Morgan states, that will help one to become a meaningful development practitioner.<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\nKind regards,<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\nJan Ubels<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><br \/>\n<br class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"tagline\">\nJan Ubels |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>March 25, 2025<\/strong> |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">Respond<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false,"raw":""},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Capacity Development as a core element in development efforts? [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template_4.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-996","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Capacity Development as a core element in development efforts? \/ Capacity: on the brink of maturity? \/ Blogs - The Broker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Food for Thought publication accompanying this debate, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcCapacity Development in Practice\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, is as explicit an expression of the title of the debate, CD as core to development, as it gets. The question is if the title reflects the most promising way ahead if one wants to improve CD\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s effectiveness.The invitation to the debate mentions \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcCD fatigue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 among donor agencies and others, a clear indication of the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dclost its shine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 stage in the fashion life cycle that the concept and the practices ba...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/capacity-on-the-brink-of-maturity\/capacity-development-as-a-core-element-in-development-efforts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Capacity Development as a core element in development efforts? \/ Capacity: on the brink of maturity? \/ Blogs - The Broker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Food for Thought publication accompanying this debate, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcCapacity Development in Practice\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, is as explicit an expression of the title of the debate, CD as core to development, as it gets. The question is if the title reflects the most promising way ahead if one wants to improve CD\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s effectiveness.The invitation to the debate mentions \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcCD fatigue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 among donor agencies and others, a clear indication of the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dclost its shine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 stage in the fashion life cycle that the concept and the practices ba...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/capacity-on-the-brink-of-maturity\/capacity-development-as-a-core-element-in-development-efforts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Homepage - Broker Online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Capacity Development as a core element in development efforts? \/ Capacity: on the brink of maturity? \/ Blogs - The Broker","description":"The Food for Thought publication accompanying this debate, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcCapacity Development in Practice\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, is as explicit an expression of the title of the debate, CD as core to development, as it gets. The question is if the title reflects the most promising way ahead if one wants to improve CD\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s effectiveness.The invitation to the debate mentions \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcCD fatigue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 among donor agencies and others, a clear indication of the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dclost its shine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 stage in the fashion life cycle that the concept and the practices ba...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/capacity-on-the-brink-of-maturity\/capacity-development-as-a-core-element-in-development-efforts\/","og_type":"article","og_title":"Capacity Development as a core element in development efforts? \/ Capacity: on the brink of maturity? \/ Blogs - The Broker","og_description":"The Food for Thought publication accompanying this debate, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcCapacity Development in Practice\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, is as explicit an expression of the title of the debate, CD as core to development, as it gets. 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