To know about Capacity Building

1. Capacity Building
Definition
Definition
Capacity Building and Knowledge Management, integral to today's e-centric world.
Planned development of (or increase in) knowledge, output rate, management, skills, and other
capabilities of an organization through acquisition, incentives, technology, and/or training.
Capacity Building in health is “the development of sustainable skills, organisational structures,
resources and commitment to health improvement in health and other sectors, to prolong and
multiply health gains many times over”. (Source)
This encompasses not only providing skills and awareness, but also creating channels, by means
of partnerships, policy and leadership, through which this learning can be transferred into
sustainable action. The UN Development Programme thus describes Capacity Building as the
process of establishing both human and institutional capacity.(Source)
Rationale
Capacity Building is an important instrument in tackling social health inequities by enhancing
the capacity of organisations at national, regional and local levels to address the social
determinants of the health inequalities. The objective of capacity building is to develop
competency among involved health professionals, and to install institutional measures, such as
funding and policy, that are conducive to such efforts.
WHO Europe thus mentions broad-ranging capacity building initiatives, including organisational,
partnership and leadership development and resources allocation, as fundamental for ensuring
sustainable andequity-promoting capacity in systems at organisational and individual levels (Source).
Giventhese potentials,the tool hasbecome an inherent part of strategies of many municipal and local
health services (Source).
Components of Capacity Building
The EU-funded“DETERMINE Consortiumforactionon the socioeconomicdeterminantsof health”(link
to website),broughttogetherawide range of stakeholderstodefine priorityareasnecessaryfor
developingthe capacitytoeffectivelyaddresssocialhealth inequalities.(Source).Asthe figure below
illustrates,the Consortiumidentifiedsix areas,whichinclude:
1. Awarenessraising and advocacy bycollectingevidence onthe givensocial healthdeterminants,
and formulatingsuitable advocacystrategies.

2. 2. Developingthe informationand evidence base inorder tounderstandandanalyse the
dynamicsof the social healthinequities,andtoshare thisknowledgeacrossthe organisations
involved.
3. Organisational developmentreferstoanassessmentof the capacitieswithinthe respective
organisationswithrespecttotacklinghealthinequitiesinordertoidentifythe resourcesand
structural changesrequiredtoeffectivelyapproachthischallenge.
4. Skillsdevelopment,whichentailscreatingandprovidingknowledgeandtrainingonthe social
determinantsof healthtoprofessionalswithinthe respective organisations.
5. Partnership development and leadership, which is the process of examining how different
organisations within the health sector, as well as externally, can collaborate and promote
leadership on health inequities;
6. Policy development entails conducting policy assessments in the area of social health
inequalities, and exploring how such aspects could be implemented into policy. (Source)
Six priority areas of Capacity Building & Awareness Raising (DETERMINE project)
Source: DETERMINE project, Menu for Capacity Building & Awareness Raising Action

3. What is community capacity building?
Community capacity building is one of three strands of community learning and development in
Scotland. It describes a particular way of working with and supporting communities - to build
skills and experience, increase opportunities, and enhance involvement in the decisions that
affect them.
This can involve developing confidence, skills, structures and knowledge, to increase the
opportunities communities have to make a real difference to the services, activities and changes
that take place in their area.
Definitions of community capacity building
The Scottish Government's short definition of community capacity building is:
measures that strengthen the collective ability of a community
WALT glossary
A more detailed definition is given in the Scottish Government's Working and Learning Together
statement:
...enabling individuals, groups and communities to develop the confidence, understanding and
skills required to influence decision making and service delivery. This could include enabling
communities to provide and manage services to meet community needs.
WALT
Our working definition of community capacity building is:
Development work that strengthens the ability of community organisations and groups to build
their structures, systems, people and skills so they are better able to define and achieve their

4. objectives and engage in consultation and planning, manage community projects and take part in
partnerships and community enterprises. It includes aspects of training, organisational and
personal development and resource building, organised and planned in a self-conscious manner,
reflecting the principles of empowerment and equality.
Skinner, 1997
This definition was also endorsed by Community Learning and Development Managers Scotland
in their PDf file: position statement on community capacity building in 2010.
What is a community?
A community is any group of people who feel a connection or a sense of belonging. It could be
people living in a local neighbourhood, a town, or a block of flats. Or it could be people who
share similar characteristics - like people of a similar age, gender or sexual orientation. Or it
could be an interest group, like a lone parents group.
This useful online glossary includes a good definition of community.
The values set out in the PDF file: National Occupational Standards for Community
Development can also inform community capacity building.
Underlying principles
Community capacity building is underpinned by the principles outlined in the Scottish
Government's Working and Learning Together statement for all community learning and
development work:
 Empowerment - increasing the ability of individuals and groups to influence issues that
affect them and their communities
 Participation - supporting people to take part in decision making
 Inclusion, equality of opportunity and anti-discrimination - recognising that some people
may need additional support to overcome the barriers they face
 Self-determination - driven by the principle that communities themselves drive capacity
building activity, and people are supported to make their own choices
 Partnership - recognising that many agencies can contribute to CLD.
All community learning and development activity should be driven by community need and
demand, and developed jointly with, rather than for, the community:
A common defining feature is that programmes and activities are developed in dialogue with
communities and participants.
WALT

5. Community capacity building is also importantly underpinned by:
 Equality - taking an inclusive approach to community capacity building activities will
strengthen and enhance everyone's experience, not just those from equalities groups
 Collective ability - focusing not simply on building individual capacity, but that of the
community as a whole. This means lots of activity to build and strengthen ways for
people to come together in their communities.
 Building assets - capacity building is not about focusing on what is wrong with a
community. It is about taking existing strengths and giving these the opportunities and
support they need to develop.
Key aspects
Community capacity building focuses on supporting community groups and organisations to
improve the quality of life for their communities. It can look and feel different, and be
approached in many different ways. However, there are some core activities at the heart of the
approach, which include:
Strengthening skills to develop confident, skilled, active and influential communities, by:
 supporting people to decide how and why they want to build community capacity - taking
responsibility for identifying existing strengths, skills and resources, and meeting their
own needs
 personal development and training - to build on and develop individual and group skills
and confidence
 supporting people to become involved in their community and wider society in a fuller
way
Strengthening structures to build effective and inclusive community organisations, by:
 building structures - such as community groups and organisations, and routes to
involvement in decision making
 linking structures - supporting people to take part in structures that allow them to
influence activity, and work jointly with others
 supporting people to establish joint structures to manage or influence local services,
activities and resources
Providing practical support, by:
 making sure that communities have the practical help and support that they need to
strengthen their skills and structures.
Find out more
You can download the PDF file: "What is community capacity building paper from the Churches
Community Work Alliance website.

6. Tensions in community capacity building
There are some common underlying principles to community capacity building. However, this
doesn't mean that there is always a common view or common understanding about exactly what
community capacity building is, how it should be done, and what its purpose is.
There are differences in values and views that mean that often different organisations and
individuals have different approaches to community capacity building. Just some of the tensions
and variations in approach include:
 Language - the words and phrases people use to describe community capacity building
can vary. People can mean different things by them. For example, terms like 'community
engagement', 'empowerment', 'participation', 'social capital' and 'community development'
can be interpreted by different people in different ways.
 Assessing skills - capacity building is about strengthening and building on the skills that
communities already have. Sometimes, people take a deficit-based approach to capacity
building, focusing on what is lacking in a community, and how to fix it. This does not sit
well with others who are committed to an asset based approach, focusing on enhancing
skills and building on existing strengths. Find out more from the PDF file: You Can Do
Guide to Asset-Based Community Development.
 Planning activity - sometimes community capacity building activity is led by what an
organisation needs, rather than a community. At the heart of community capacity
building is the focus on community-led activity. But an organisation working in the field
of community capacity building needs to start somewhere. In planning activity - even a
strengths or needs assessment - the organisation's own priorities will almost always come
into play. Simply being aware of this, and working to ensure that community priorities
come first, will help.
 Links to national outcomes - the Scottish Government is very clear about the contribution
that community capacity building can make to national outcomes. With community
planning partnerships now producing Single Outcome Agreements linked to national
outcomes, these national priorities become important at a local level. So, many
organisations working in community capacity building will need to demonstrate how
their work links to these national outcomes. Most of the time, it will be relatively easy to
make these links. But there can be a tension between working to national outcomes, and
allowing capacity building to develop on communities' own terms. PDf file: Delivering
Change sets out the outcomes that community capacity learning and development can
contribute to, specifically identifying community capacity building outcomes.
 Conflicting priorities - Sometimes, what a community wants can conflict with what your
organisation wants. This can put staff involved in community capacity building in a
difficult position. If, for example, your organisation has taken a decision to close a
community facility, it can put you in a difficult position if the community you work with
wants support to influence this decision. This means it is important that your organisation
is clear about the support it can provide to communities, and what role you as an
individual staff member can play. This should be made clear to the communities you
support, so that people know the level and type of support to expect.

7.  Responding to increased power and influence - much community capacity building work
is about supporting communities to have more power and influence. Some organisations
can be very resistant to communities having an equal say or leading in decision making.
There can be tensions between a commitment to build community capacity on one hand,
and a difficulty with the organisation working with communities that have increased their
capacity. Elected members can sometimes feel that their power base is being challenged.
There can also be conflicts and tensions between different community representative
structures.
The Scottish Community Mediation Centre provides training on community mediation and
constructive conflict resolution. Many practical guides and briefing papers are available online.
This guidance cannot resolve the tensions within community capacity building. It is natural for
people to have different views about how best to approach capacity building activity, and there is
no one right way to approach work with communities. We have tried to highlight some of these
tensions and challenges throughout the guidance. Being aware of these tensions - and working to
address these locally - is an important part of work to build community capacity. Dealing with
challenging behaviour is part of building your own capacity in this area of work.
Working to professional standards can help you to find your way through some of these tensions.
The updated Community Learning and Development Competences provide an overview of what
makes a competent worker in the field of community learning and development, including
community capacity building.
The 2008 report published on the Scottish Government's website - Delivering Outcomes in CLD:
Current Issues for Outcomes Focused Practice in Community Capacity Building provides a
useful overview of some of the challenges and tensions within the field.

8. Capacity Building & Knowledge Management
Capacity Building and Knowledge Management, integral to today's e-centric world, constitute
one of NISG's four main operational areas. The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), aimed at
improving delivery of public services by creating a citizen-centric and business-centric
environment, can be better implemented if focused efforts are made to build capacities and
manage knowledge at all levels of government.
About CBKM at NISG
The Department of Information technology, Government of India has entrusted NISG with the
task to design and conduct training programs for different audiences group at the State and
Central levels. Many States are launching e-Government projects, thus NISG is involved in
Capacity Building for effective implementation of the NeGP.
Currently, CBKM team at NISG is involved in promoting e-Governance standards in the country
through designing and conducting various training programmes to enable the leaders in the e-
Governance domain share their knowledge and spearhead a new set of e-Governance champions
in the country, every now and then.
CBKM’s expertise in the core areas of Capacity Building for the political, administrative,
institutional and project levels which includes establishing - institutional framework, engaging
personnel with required skill sets and experience with the required up gradation of the skills
through training.
In addition to that CBKM imparts short term trainings spanning one to five days on e-
Governance and related areas for the political level and senior level Policy makers, HOD's of
Central Government and State Governments.
Various customized training programs are also designed and conducted in the areas on e-
Procurement, BPR, Leadership & Change Management, Knowledge Management etc.

9. Major training programs under CBKM
Chief Information Officer
The Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY) has entrusted NISG with the
task of design and conduct the training program titled – “Chief Information Officers’ Training”,
exclusively for such officers who are at the implementation level of the e-Gov projects.
NISG designed and conducted two such batches of specialized training under Chief Information
Officers (CIO’s) Training Programme during November – December 2011. The CIO training is
aimed to inculcate a deeper understanding of factors that result in failure or success and
sustainability of e- Governance projects. The target group comprises the officers who are
expected to play a lead role in e-Gov initiatives, right from conceptualizing to implementation
and roll-out of a project. The overall goal was to accelerate implementation of e-Governance
initiatives in India at all levels of Governments i.e. Central/State/UT(s).
After undergoing this training program, an official is expected to have all the skills necessary to
implement an e-governance project from conceptualization to complete rollout stage.
Three broad categories under CIO
e-Governance Leadership Programme (eGLP) : 2 batches
A two week module for Senior level officials from Central and State Government at the level of
Jt Secretary (Central Government) and Principal Secretary/Secretary (State Governments). The
eGLP participation is open to all the MMP Departments across the Central and States/UTs.
e-Governance Champions Programme (eGCP): 4 batches
A four week module for Officers involved in project design and implementation (Central & State
Governments). The eGCP trainings are aimed for specific identified sectors / MMPs-CCTNS,
Immigration, MOIA, Passports, e-Districts, Education, Health, Municipalities, Women & Family
Welfare etc.
e-Governance Executive Programme (eGEP): 2 batches
A six week module (split in two phases with a gap of two months) for Officers involved in
project implementation (Central & State Governments). These training are open to all
departments.
Other training programmes under CBKM
Below given text of each training programme should come as link with heading of each training
programme:

10. Leadership Meet
To address the orientation needs of the top Political and Policy Level and the State e-Governance
Mission Team (SeMT) at the State/UT level, Department of Information Technology, Ministry
of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India has proposed to provide
training under the Capacity Building Scheme. NISG responsible for implementing and
facilitating the training programs organizes three days Political and Policy level orientation /
training named as "LEADERSHIP MEET" in all States/UTs.
Click here to view the calendar
State e-Governance MissionTeam (SeMT)
SeMT is a dedicated body at the State level consisting of full-time experts to provide an overall
direction, standardization and consistency through program management of e-Governance
initiatives under way in the State Government.
NISG conducted six batches of orientation trainings for newly joined members of SeMT in May
2011 covering 228 SeMT members along with 27 NeGD central team members. The focus of
orientation was to familiarize the participants to NeGP, e-Governance ecosystem, important
processes & aspects of e-Governance projects and experience sharing of e-Governance projects.
Based on the feedback and key observations NISG conducted 3 domain specific workshops on
change management, technology management and RFP.
Executive Post Graduate Program in e-Governance (EPGP_EG)
NISG conceptualized a one-year full-time residential Program in e-Governance for Executives.
This program is expected to build required manpower that can assume leadership roles in private
and government organizations in conceptualizing, designing and implementing e-Governance
Projects.
NISG has collaborated with two of the business school viz, T.A.Pai Management Institute
(TAPMI), Manipal and Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore to conduct the above
courses.

11. Capacity Building
Around the world, international industries and investors face stakeholder pressure to increase
investment in host country work forces while continually improving the quality of
environmental, health, safety and social (EHSS) performance. Striking this delicate balance will
challenge companies to improve how they invest in, guide, support and help develop the capacity
of in-country consultants, rather than relying on imported international teams. Acorn
International was founded to offer a service model based on guided partnerships that ensure
world-class assurance and maximized local content in EHSS consulting services. Capacity
building is a critical element of our business model.
What is Capacity Building?
Capacity is the ability of people, organizations and society as a whole to manage their affairs
successfully. Capacity development is the process whereby people, organizations and institutions
(society) as a whole unleash, strengthen, create, adapt and maintain capacity over time. Capacity
building is often understood to mean a purposeful, external intervention to strengthen capacity
over time.
For the extractives industry, capacity building can focus on internal and external stakeholders,
and can encompass any or all of the following:
Capacity Building Position Paper
Acorn International's Position Paper describes some current challenges of international capacity
building and outlines why it is important to us, as well as our industrial and investment clients, to
continually improve performance in the strengthening of in-country EHSS services.

12. ces and Capacity building
At the core of Barclays Microbanking Initiative, BBG devised the “A-B-C of Microbanking”, a
three pronged approach aimed at serving the needs of the informal sector by supporting existing
financial intermediaries and their clients in the areas of Awareness creation (A), Banking
services (B) and Capacity building (C) (Barclays PLC 2005).
 A for Awareness creation: the awareness component was designed to help Susu
collectors clients in gaining the confidence to use basic financial skills for the effective
management of their money;
 B for Banking services: BBG introduced specialized banking services for on-lending to
the final clients and facilities for savings to be delivered through the “Dwetiri Current
Account”. BBG also adjusted its opening hours in order to suit the lodgement
requirements of Susu collectors, thus satisfying their needs for a safe place to keep the
clients’ savings after their collection rounds. Furthermore, specialized bank tellers have
been dedicated to deal with the specific requirements of the Susu collectors.
 C for Capacity building: the capacity building program was aimed at providing training
and support tailored to the needs of the participant Susu Collectors: considering that the
Susu business is focused on saving mobilization, building the capacity for managing the
lending activity was essential.