Capacity Development
1. What is capacity development?
Improved country capacity is one of the critical factors to meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Development efforts in many of the poorest countries will fail, even if they are supported with substantially increased funding, if the development of sustainable capacity is not given greater and more careful attention. This is now widely recognized by donor organizations and developing countries alike, as articulated in the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. (OECD/DAC 2005: “The Challenge of Capacity Development: Working towards good practice”)
“Capacity” is understood as the ability of people, organizations and society as a whole to manage their affairs and shape development successfully. The definition is deliberately simple. It avoids any judgment on the objectives that people choose to pursue, or what should count as success in the management of their collective efforts.
“Capacity Development” is understood as the process whereby people, organizations and society as a whole unleash, strengthen, create, adapt and maintain capacity over time. (OECD/DAC 2005: “The Challenge of Capacity Development: Working towards good practice”)
The new consensus, strongly worded in the 2005 Paris Declaration, sees capacity building as a necessarily endogenous process, strongly led from within a country, with donors playing a supporting role. According to this vision, political leadership and the prevailing political and governance system are critical factors in creating opportunities and setting limits for capacity development efforts.
2. Capacity development within Ethiopia
Ethiopia is a country with a rich historical heritage and a strong sense of independence and ownership over its development process. It is the only sub-Saharan country never to have been colonised by a European power and successfully defended its independent path against military aggression. Ethiopia is now making great strides to emerge from its traditional system of governance and economic management and transform into a modern democratic society based on a vigorous market economy, able to keep pace with globalization. The ecbp, using the German experience as a benchmark, is one of the cornerstones of this development strategy.
3. Capacity development within ecbp
Capacity development forms the basis of ecbp interventions. The manner in which ecbp undertakes capacity development is unique. The German standard of engineering industries is used as a benchmark and its main elements are to be transferred (in an adapted version) to develop capacity in the Ethiopian sectors. A large number of seconded staff are employed, combined with short term personnel. To ensure a sustainable transfer of knowledge, the principles of twinning-teams are applied within ecbp.
The main aim of the Government of Ethiopia is to develop capacity. The large investments in German Experts (presently 100 but continuously growing) and know-how reflect the keen political interest in achieving a quick and substantial change within the four areas (components). It is expected that this will produce a significant positive economic outcome in the targeted industrial sectors. Accordingly, the aspect of “change by capacity development” is a motto and principle behind ecbp’s entire work.
It is the primary and most prominent task of the seconded experts to support their Ethiopian counterparts in developing their capacity, not so much by teaching and class room training, but mainly by face to face co-operation and joint problem solving. This mechanism makes the German contribution sustainable and will produce an impact not only with the individuals involved, but on institutional and macro-levels as well.
The Government of Ethiopia is complementing this direct capacity development process by using German expertise to changing the broader political and social context within which capacity development efforts take place.
ecbp now acts through a three-tier understanding of capacity development, involving much more than enhancing the knowledge and skills of individuals. It focuses equally on the quality of the organizations in which they work. In turn, the operations of particular organizations are influenced by the enabling environment – the structures of power and influence and the institutions – in which they are embedded. Capacity is not only about skills and procedures. It is also about incentives and governance.
4. What does ecbp do on the different levels?
Individual Level: On the individual level, ecbp addresses capacity building through leadership development, advocacy skills, training/speaking abilities, technical skills, organizing skills, and other areas of personal and professional development. Ecbp therefore applies the logic of twinning teams. Throughout the program, the seconded experts work closely with one or more Ethiopian counterparts to ensure the direct transfer of knowledge on individual level.
Organisational Level: Within different private and public organisations and institutions (chambers, associations etc.) ecbp aims to build capacity in almost all aspects: improved governance, leadership, mission and strategy, administration (including human resources, financial management, and legal matters), program development and implementation, fundraising and income generation, diversity, partnerships and collaboration, evaluation, advocacy and policy change, marketing, positioning, planning, etc.
Enabling Environment: ecbp aims to develop the capacity of the government and private sector to jointly formulate national development strategies to contribute to an enabling environment. In order to achieve this, rules, processes and structures that are used to exercise authority and control and to make political decisions in a society, have to be designed in a transparent and accountable manner. This also includes transparent budgeting from the central government towards the regions. Furthermore it includes enhancing the dialogue between public and private stakeholders.
Promoting good governance plays a central role in ecbp. It supports government and administrative reforms as well as decentralisation and regionalisation of state power. One important concern in the scope of ecbp is to decentralise responsibilities to the woreda (local) level, e.g. for education, to increase consultation with different groups in society as well as to enlarge the public debate over policies (especially in the field of education) in a way that has not taken place in Ethiopia before. In promoting good governance, ecbp focuses on cooperation between various government, business, municipal, and civil-society actors in the provision and distribution of public goods and services.