UN-NGLS Publications: Development Dossier

In its series of Development Dossiers NGLS seeks to contribute to the on-going dialogue of the international development community, including governments, NGOs and the UN system, through the dissemination of challenging analyses and reflections from independent observers and authors on key current issues on the international development agenda. Past issues in the series have dealt, in a constructively critical way, with the "Washington consensus" on "Markets and Good Government", with the issue of how development is communicated in the donor countries, and with the question of the role of the UN system and NGOs in global governance. [Footnote 1: 1. "Markets and Good Government: The Way Forward for Economic and Social Development?" by Robert Archer (NGLS, 1994); "Is Anyone Listening? Communicating Development in Donor Countries" by Anne Winter (NGLS, 1995); "The United Nations, NGOs and Global Governance: Challenges for the 21st Century" (NGLS, 1996); "NGLS's 20th Anniversary Conference" (NGLS, 1996).]

The text for this Development Dossier, "The Development of Capacity", was contributed by Allan Kaplan, the Executive Director of the Community Development Resource Association based in Woodstock, South Africa. CDRA is dedicated to strengthening organizational capacity and through consultancy and other forms, Kaplan has worked with a broad range of community-based organisations and NGOs in South Africa and elsewhere in Africa, and with European development NGOs.

In the pages that follow Kaplan presents a critique of current development practice and a vision of development and capacity-building "as it should be". Drawing upon his practical experience in the field of organizational development, and on insights provided by the "new sciences", the text challenges development practitioners, whether they be NGOs, the multilateral system or bilateral donors, to deeply rethink their development practice and to consciously build a shared, new paradigm which opens up opportunities for new forms of development relationships and, in particular, approaches to building organizational capacity.

It is an enormous challenge to the existing system of aid and international cooperation, Kaplan argues, because it means moving beyond the "development project" and the values, relationships, activities and mentalities enshrined in this, the current paradigm, and developing new approaches based upon different values, understandings and relationships between development practitioners-the latter being, in Kaplan terms, those who wish to facilitate, support or contribute to development, not "bring" it as third parties.

Kaplan's observations and insights go the very heart of current debates on capacity building and aid effectiveness, and provide much food for thought-and action.

Tony Hill
Coordinator, NGLS
January 1999

As regular readers of NGLS's publications may be aware, a number of Southern and Northern NGOs, bilateral and multilateral donors and foundations have recently established the International Forum on Capacity Building for Southern NGOs (IFCB). Launched in May of 1998, the purpose of the initiative is to build a multistakeholder forum to engage in debate and innovation which shape conceptual approaches, policies and practices for future capacity-building interventions. The IFCB has established an International Steering Committee and a Work Plan for the next two years. For more information contact the IFCB secretariat at: