Capacity Enhancement Indicators:

Abstract

Since the international development conferences in Doha, Johannesburg and Monterrey, capacity enhancement has acquired a central place as a driver of sustainable development. The World Bank Institute’s (WBI) responsibility is to keep the focus sharp on capacity enhancement as a core feature of the Bank’s development business. The World Bank Institute Evaluation Group (IEG) commissioned a literature review to identify indicators used to operationalize and measure “capacity” in capacity enhancement programs supported by a number of organizations. The stark conclusion this review paper brings us to is that despite the importance accorded to the concept, little effort has gone into concretely defining what “capacity enhancement” means. To a large extent, the difficulty emerges from a vague understanding of the term “capacity,” and even less clarity about the results to be expected from capacity enhancement efforts. The paper suggests that the analytical framework and results orientation of capacity enhancement programs can be strengthened considerably by asking the questions: capacity for whom? And, capacity for what? Although a general agreement is emerging with respect to the levels at which capacity enhancement endeavors can be directed – individuals, organizations, and institutions – the capacity-related outcomes will be amenable to measurement only if the outcomes expected are concretely defined. The author also 360 encourages us to think of capacity building as a process and, therefore, to define interim benchmarks.

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