A ripple in development? - Channel Research

The use of information plays a considerable and underestimated
role in capacity building. Individuals met by our study found that making
and implementing plans for their own recovery was difficult when
they heard that they would receive a permanent shelter but were unsure
about the type, location, or quality.
This applies to the shaping of linkages between relief and development.
Many of the thousands of individuals that donate to INGOs
often want to “give a house” or “deliver a boat” to an affected family. If
these thousands of individuals were to want to “build local capacity to
provide safe houses”, the organisations would engage in that. There is
no mechanism available within the spectrum of LRRD to help this
latent demand for building local capacity to be articulated, either as the
rights of the victims or as a form of consumer demand from the beneficiaries
of humanitarian aid and development investments.
Several studies and initiatives, including the Office of the Special
Envoy for Tsunami Recovery’s NGO Impact Initiative, have emphasised
the need for local capacity building in disaster recovery 95 . Several global
efforts also give the mandate for supporting local capacity, including
TRIAMS’ emphasis on evidence of capacity for recovery, and the Good
Humanitarian Donorship Initiative’s call for donors to “strengthen the
capacity of affected countries and local communities” 96 to prepare for an
manage disasters. Additionally, the World Bank’s evaluations of its disaster
recovery support also call for support to local institutions for ensuring
sustainable recovery by increasing the organisation capacity to respond
quickly to disasters 97 . Public recognition and agreement on capacity
development as a priority is one step forward but far from sufficient.
6.5 Conclusion
The issue of capacity development is affected by a lack of widely shared
understanding 98 . Yet getting capacity development right is essential:
regardless of funding levels, relief, rehabilitation and development
efforts depend on capacities, particularly at the local level, for handover
between initiatives.
The tsunami responses have initiated a wide and diverse range of
capacity building efforts. These have come from a wide range of agencies
and communities. However little has been done to operationalise
these concepts into a know-how that would allow for a proper tracking
of the progress achieved, and initiatives tend to conceive of capacity as
something external, that could even be conceived of as an asset to be
rented for specific tasks. The personnel management aspects of capacity
are completely overlooked.
95
For more see: American Red Cross et al. (2006)
96
Principle #8. From GHD (2003)
97
World Bank/IEG (2008)
98
OECD/DAC (2006)
105