Capacity Building

Capacity building is at the core of FCDE’s approach to community development. The approach we take focuses on ensuring that organizations not only involve themselves in becoming more stable, but that they garner tools and skills to improve and strengthen the work that they do on the ground as well.

In general, capacity building is defined as the "process of developing and strengthening the skills, instincts, abilities, processes and resources that organizations and communities need to survive, adapt, and thrive in the fast-changing world." (Ann Philbin, Capacity Building in Social Justice Organizations Ford Foundation, 1996).

The WCO defines capacity building as "activities which strengthen the knowledge, abilities, skills and behavior of individuals and improve institutional structures and processes such that the organization can efficiently meet its mission and goals in a sustainable way."

Both of these definitions convey our process and intent in capacity building. In practice, FCDE facilitates these efforts in a number of diverse and innovative ways including:

• Helping organizations go through organizational self-assessments
• Providing a cycle of organizational development workshops and trainings
• Helping to equip organizations with awareness, skills, access to information, knowledge and training that enables them to perform effectively
• Developing financial skills to carry out fundraising and business planning activities
• Support in strategic planning
• Instituting transparency in organizational governance structures
• Providing one-on-one, small group technical training
• Supporting compliance with other organizations or government grants
• Monitoring and evaluation components to programmatic activities
• Jointly engaging in project design and management
• Training on grant design, development and implementation
• Intern/Volunteer support and management

As our partner organization go through the capacity building/organizational development process, a number of tangible outcomes are derived. For many organizations this means increased service areas, higher funding and more efficacy in their work. For other agencies it means bringing sustainability to their organization, initiating more sophisticated internal governance systems and partnering with other complementary organizations. From a broad based community development perspective, having numerous NGOs growing in this manner creates a group of well-managed, sustainable organizations that are better positioned to join efforts with their peers to carry out campaigns for long-term, sustainable change.