Capacity development in educational planning and management: learning from successes and failures: a report

Capacity development, a very popular concept in recent years, has a fairly mixed record. While successes have been achieved, from which useful lessons can be learned, the overall record remains a source of concern, especially in the least developed countries. In July 2008, IEP invited international experts for a debate on the reasons capacity development efforts at times fail to have a long-term impact, on ways to overcome common constraints and on UNESCO's role in this area and how it may be (re)defi ned. This book comments on the differences of opinion between experts but also highlights points of agreement on capacity development strategies which may be more successful than present approaches. The focus should shift from the individual to the organization and action should move from simply providing training to a more complete set of interventions. These can include the development of organizational tools, better monitoring using incentive systems, and stronger accountability, both within the organization and towards civil society. Longer time frames and new evaluation schemes are needed to measure efforts correctly. However, in order to trigger organizational change, a certain number of prerequisites must be in place, such as internal commitment and change-oriented leadership.