Scoping study: Learning to Change Capacity Development Practice

Executive summary

This Scoping Study, commissioned by the World Bank Institute (WBI) in collaboration with Learning for Capacity Development (LenCD), is one of a range of responses to promote more effective capacity development (CD) practices. The underlying premise is that field level practitioners in multiple constituencies would benefit from a comprehensive learning package on CD. The scope and timeframe did not allow for consultation with all possible interested parties, so this study is a first articulation of how a CD learning package may be approached. It is hoped that this paper will be shared with relevant parties and generate the interest, energy, finance and other resources to take the process forward in a collective effort, possibly as a working group under the umbrella of LenCD.

The focus of this study is on Africa in response to needs expressed by African agents. In 2009 LenCD and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development – Development Assistance Committee (OECD‐DAC) undertook consultations with the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) and others to explore an African Learning Platform (AfLP) for CD. In January 2010 the African Union adopted NEPAD’s Capacity Development Strategy Framework, providing a politically endorsed reference for CD initiatives in the region.

The vast array of knowledge, information and initiatives available from multiple sources makes it clear that there is a rapidly changing dynamic around all aspects of CD. Emerging understanding about the need for new approaches to CD is creating diverse needs for learning and change for development actors at all levels. There is also growing recognition that capacity and its development are areas of knowledge, skills and practice in their own right. Within this scenario the spread of knowledge and skills for effective support of CD is very uneven. Many, especially at country level, are struggling to understand what is required of them within the changing paradigm articulated in the Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action. As it is not possible to meet all needs at all levels a prime group to target are practitioners working as change agents at country or sector level. Initial efforts would therefore focus on producing a package that different institutions and agencies could access and adapt to offer to diverse groups of practitioners.

As yet there has been no attempt to define the practice of CD or the competences required for effective practice, so there are no globally recognised learning or training programmes, or CD qualifications. This is one of the reasons why, despite the plethora of information available, virtually none of it is in the form of accessible learning resources for practitioners. This initiative aims to further the process of building a common understanding and language of CD and thereby reinforce a community of practice that connects horizontally and vertically with many other disciplines. The package has the potential to be a strong catalyst for continued analysis and bringing back lessons from practice. It should make maximum use of existing resources to bridge current practices and create a common reference that can later be adapted for multiple contexts.

The success of this initiative depends on the engagement of a group that has the diverse skills, resources and energy for creative collaboration to achieve a shared goal. Relevance and sustainability in Africa would also depend on local leaders taking ownership, together with ongoing financial and other resource support from stakeholders elsewhere. In a process of co‐creation the perspective provided by African institutions would ensure both relevance to context and locally resourced materials. Efforts are underway to launch a regional learning platform that could be instrumental in development and dissemination of the package. Further, due to extensive access to institutions and networks across the continent such a learning platform would also be well placed to draw together learning emerging from the use of the package in Africa.

The pressing need is for a package offering basic knowledge and skills to bring about change in CD practice, in an attractive form that encourages take up by multiple stakeholders. In order to make practical resources easily available to as many as possible the package should be available as open source. However, this raises the big challenge of how to ensure consistency and quality if multiple agencies are able freely to adapt and develop the package and its content according to their context and needs. Quality assurance mechanisms would need to be in place from the outset, if the package is to be effective.

The principles guiding didactic considerations for developing the package should be: an inital focus on Africa; a focus on country level practitioners; maximum use of existing local resources; emphasis on a practical applicability across all dimensions of development; and, adaptability to local context, with default materials if needed. The main question that a working group would need to address is ‘What outcomes and level of impact should the learning package try to achieve?’ To change the practice of CD requires building competencies, which in turn requires working with adult learning methods that enhance self‐awareness and personal mastery, without which there is little likelihood of any significant change in how people work. Anything developed now should not be considered as a final product but rather as a set of ‘living documents’ to be updated regularly in response to new learning. Thus, there is also a need for dynamic mechanisms to bring learning from use of the package back into ongoing review and development processes. As well as ongoing financial support this would require partnering with agents who have a genuine interest in specific modules.

This study offers suggestions for a package entitled Learning to Change CD Practice, including purpose, objectives, a template for modules and a sample module. Suggestions for modules in this core package are: CD basics; Understanding CD in workplace realities; Assessment and measurement of capacity and CD; Changing practice in planning and implementation; Learning practices for CD; Monitoring and evaluating CD; and, Implications for practice. However, after it has assessed priority needs, the working group would have to decide if this or another approach would be most effective in meeting the identified needs. Application to sectors or thematic areas is more complex, especially when attempting simultaneously to support the emergence of a common language and approach. There are many, not mutually exclusive ways, in which the decisions about subjects can be approached.

Preliminary indications are that working group members would need to share the following roles and tasks between them: management and coordination of the overall process; funding; participant research and competence specification; module development; peer review; pilot delivery; development of quality assurance processes; and, ongoing review and upgrading of content and process. Given the range of philosophical, practical and resource issues the working group would need to resolve before they start co‐creating the package it would be helpful if they came together in an inception workshop to map out the way forward.

Next steps include direct communication with key African partners and introducing the initiative into relevant processes in Africa. The initiative should also be linked into several important global fora, including those preparing CD inputs for the Seoul High Level Forum in 2011. If provisional funding and a working group are in place by September a package could be available for use by the middle of 2011. At this stage there are too many unknown factors to formulate a budget for anything beyond first steps, but clearly there would be considerable resource needs to be met.