Report of the Manila Symposium on capacity development

This paper reports on the International Symposium on Capacity Development. The symposium’s main objective was to facilitate the exchange of views among donors, recipient countries and other development practitioners on capacity development, as well as on new development cooperation approaches.Outcomes of the symposium include:accountability to beneficiaries is essential and therefore development cooperation approaches need stakeholders participation and endorsement at all stages. The project and programme approaches complement each other. The one-sized “best” practices are rarely transferablethe notion of capacity is normally associated with individual, organisational and societal “capabilities” to perform functions, however willingness or motivation need to be recognised as equally important since they hold the key to effective utilisation of competenciesdistinguishing between ability on the one hand, and willingness on the other, highlights the centrality of ownership to capacity development and the influence of incentives and motives on transforming capacity into performance. It helps understanding that capacity development is far more than a technical intervention but a process of transformative change. In addition to ownership, making capacity development operational inherently requires the recognition of external agencies that their role as being a catalyst in support of local change processes, one that is focused on achieving capacity development outcomes. Yet faced with difficult conditions in an increasing number of countries in difficult circumstances have required donor agencies to strike a balance between support for short term targeted interventions and maintaining a longer term programmatic visionstrong leadership is among the most fundamental attributes for assuring a locally driven process, which can be easily eroded where the role of donors becomes too prominentthe absence of appropriate incentives can result in “brain -drain” (the loss of the most capable in the developing world to developed economies, or simply to a loss of determination and will to perform). This is an issue that deserves urgent attention particularly for smaller countries such as the Lebanon and Jamaica known for considerable emigration. The lack of monetary and non-monetary forms of incentives contributes to brain drain and willingness to perform. An enabling environment plays a key role in ensuring that effective capacity is translated into good performance of individuals, organisations and societiestransparency, accountability, the rule of law and security also constitute important incentives to effective performance, an issue that is now receiving considerable attentionanalytical work needs to look at specific problems in their wider context taking account of factors at the individual, organisational and societal levels. It also requires engaging in dialogue with different development partners, including other donors, to ensure that a more complete view of the situation is obtained. Crucially, projects and programmes need to be designed in terms of achieving capacity development outcomes, rather than necessarily short term resultsThe International Symposium on Capacity Development was held in Manila, Philippines, 14 - 16 January 2003.