Networks and relationships are key for successful capacity development (CD). However, it is still a challenge for the sector to enhance the complexity of bridging different actors and to innovate these networks. This was one of the outcomes of the expert seminar ‘Next Steps in Capacity Development: Dealing with Multi Stakeholder Systems’, which was organized by SNV and the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) last Monday, 22 February in The Hague. More than 40 representatives from NGO’s, knowledge institutes and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs attended the seminar.
Insights from the ECDPM study ‘Capacity, Change and Performance’ were key in the discussion. For example networks, building alliances and the ability to adapt and self-renew are as important for change as the more traditional approach of carrying out technical services. Presentations of successful capacity development practices in the public sector in Tanzania by Heather Baser (consultant and former ECDPM) and on the role of churches in Papua New Guinea by Volker Hauck (ECDPM) illustrated the importance of the local context. “Let’s take a holistic perspective”, Derick Brinkerhoff from RTI International stated. “Connecting many factors is most important to see key dilemmas and potential for change”.
Panelists from ETC, Cordaid, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and SNV focused on remaining challenges for the sector, like the identification of driving forces for CD, addressing networks as an extra intervention level, bonding unusual partners, and recruitment. The topics lead to a fruitful discussion with the audience.
This expert seminar was the first event in the SNV series ‘Innovations in Capacity Development.’
Capacity Development: Are we Ready for the Challenges?
“We are on a crusade to show that capacity development is not at all that vague”, SNV director, Dirk Elsen, stated. Success factors, obstacles and challenges in capacity development were discussed during the seminar ‘Next steps in Capacity Development: dealing with Multi Stakeholder Systems’. Insights from the ECDPM study ‘Capacity, Change and Performance’ were the base for discussion. The study, initiated to share lessons learnt, took more than six years to conduct and has connected research, policy and practice. Five so called core capabilities and an analytical framework of how to build social capital, are to help create a differentiated view on capabilities. “Further attention for CD is a serious issue”, said Volker Hauck, head of knowledge management ECDPM. “If we are not ready to face this challenge, there is no chance for success.”
Soft stuff
Derick Brinkerhoff from RTI International provided 
an overview of the general themes in the study, stressing that a holistic approach is needed. Issues like confidence, identity, skills to adapt and building alliances are often perceived as the ’soft stuff’. Brinkerhoff: “But without the soft stuff, you don’t get the results out of CD that we like to see. The idea that the products of a system relate on interaction, is against what most people think about CD.”
Successful case studies
Hauck demonstrated the complexity of CD with a case study of contributions by Christian churches to create social capital in Papua New Guinea. Hauck: “Understanding their relations and respecting their diversities is quite an investment, knowing there are so many churches.”
Heather Baser, consultant and former ECDPM, presented success factors for capacity building, based on public service reform in Tanzania. For example, success mainly depended on strong relations with the president and senior officials, and on the operating space provided by donors. She also stressed the importance of context and different approaches. Baser: “A planned approach does not work in situations that are unpredictable, and most situations are unpredictable.”
Challenges
A panel with Peter Konijn from Cordaid, Jan Waltmans from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Frans Verberne from ETC and Jan Ubels from SNV discussed how to apply the learnings from the study in practice. Waltmans and Konijn admitted that obstacles in their own organizations, like political pressure or time frame, could stand in the way of putting knowledge about CD in practice. This leads to the challenge of strengthening capacities of own staff. In this respect Konijn opts for a more hybrid type of organization.
A broader picture of how CD has its impact on politics, is needed. With further thoughts about bringing together unusual partners and focus on the question: social change for whom? Jan Ubels aims for extra focus on the networks. “There is a general understanding of the different layers involved in CD, but there is an extra layer in between, namely the network. We need to identify this as an intervention level as well.”
How to tease out specifics from the study to apply to multi stakeholder systems, was not yet clear. “It is not a final framework yet”, said Brinkerhoff. “It is a getaway from generalities and a tool to reframe what is important.” A next level of analysis is needed.
The expert seminar was the first event in the SNV series ‘Innovations in Capacity Development.’