Without Capacity, There is No Development

This document, from the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), aims to investigate capacity development because, though these activities have usually strengthened the skills of individuals, they have not always succeeded in improving the effectiveness of the ministries and other organisations where those individuals are working. As stated here: "The strategy paper starts from the conviction that sustainable capacity development succeeds only when there is national ownership and when international efforts fit within national strategies."

The paper is based upon an examination of IIEP-UNESCO's studies on capacity development for achieving "Education for All" (EFA), focusing on educational planning and management. IIEP’s work has led to the identification of some main principles:

• “The type of capacity development being considered here only works in a sustainable manner when there is national leadership and ownership, and when international efforts match national priorities and strategies.
  
• Strategies need attention at several levels: the capacities of the individual, the effectiveness of the organization (for example the ministry of education), the norms and practices which rule public management as a whole, and the political, social, and economic contexts.
  
• Any intervention must recognise the intrinsic values of ownership and participation. When it aims only to identify partners’ weaknesses or to strengthen the positions of those already powerful, the deepest sense of capacity development is lost.”
  

In detail, the document analyses the circumstances, complexities, and variations of the need for capacity development. For example, individual training needs may result from governance reforms, possibly including decentralisation. Strategic analysis in this instance might offer further opportunities: "During such moments of change, training can facilitate the change process and lead it in the desired direction." Thus, the document offers strategic principles with a particular emphasis on increasing the supportive context of training, increasing the effectiveness of education ministries and planning departments, and developing the abilities of competent and committed educational planners and managers. While adaptation is a theme of the strategies, the particular context of fragile states is cited for analysis in four key dimensions: "the state’s overall strength and formality; the prevailing type of political representation; the degree of social and economic inequality; and the present characteristics of service delivery;" and two key characteristics: "political will and capacity." The stage of progression -  from deterioration, through post-conflict transition, arrested development, and early recovery -  must be taken into account when engaging with leadership for planning capacity development. Dynamics of power, marginalisation, gender, and other issues must be accounted for. There must be: buy-in generated at all levels of rebuilding activities; trust and interpersonal relationships built; a capacity development plan, even if small, produced; and tools made available for skills training appropriate to jobs.

According to the document, the following are possibilities to enhance uptake of capacity development:

• Leaders who champion change must be sought.
  
• Strategies must be context-relevant and -specific.
  
• Capacity development must be integrated with intervention implementation in coordinated steps, and the commitments must be long-term. Prior assessments of potential impact must be made before activating outside interventions.
  
• Because political leadership is essential for national buy-in, advocacy at the national level could include developing coalitions, providing policy briefings, and contributing monitoring data and reports as relevant knowledge for decisionmaking.
  
• To satisfy the need for a specific professional profile for educational planners and managers, professional abilities and strengths must be recognised and supported through training and forming a planners’ association to promote recognition of the professional character of educational planning and management.
  
• Civil society and community support can create an understanding of the need for educational planning and management and the professionalisation of teaching. It can strengthen interest in government accountability. Journalism training and journalist information fora can boost public engagement through increasing publication of articles that promote social demands for accountability.
  
• Creating a common vision and framework to clarify responsibilities can strengthen ministries and their departments. Monitoring and evaluation within ministries and staff development, along with incentives for performance, can further increase their professional function.
  
• Providing on-demand technical assistance through mobile teams; setting up and strengthening national and regional training and research centres; setting up and supporting regional and international networks; and facilitating knowledge linking can contribute to capacity development efforts.

The document concludes that partnership linkages are essential, both nationally and internationally, combined with in-country coordination and leadership. Building long-term relationships with national partners as colleagues and developing a mutual learning process of working, planning, and agreeing on activities and ways forward together may then result in joint accountability and mutual pride in achievement.