Capacity Building in Indonesia: Building What Capacity?

Abstract

The idea of capacity building can be traced back to the years immediately following World War II, when it was associated with the need to build the administrative capacity of governments and the public sector in developing countries (Pearson, 1969; Morgan, 1994). By the 1980s the scope of capacity building was extended to cover issues of long-term sustainability and ways of ensuring responsiveness to change, which tended to mean that wider structural adjustments were required (Morgan, 1994; McGinty, 2003). At the same time the categories of subjects requiring ‘their capacity to be built’ expanded from government institutions to businesses and civil society institutions, such as non-government organisations (NGOs) (Morgan, 1994). While there are now many definitions of capacity building, in its most general sense the term refers to the process of developing skills, abilities, behaviours and resources within a group so that members can take control of their wellbeing and future directions (see for example Chaskin et al., 2001; Eade and Williams, 1995). Capacity building tends to be identified with the skilling and resourcing of organisations and institutions. For example it has been indicated as a means for ensuring the continued existence of organisations by building institutional strength and reducing reliance on key individuals (Straussman, 2007). Effective capacity building allows an organisation to continue its work despite staff turnover or changes in operating environment.

Earlier parts of this chapter have been published in the Community Development Journal in Fanany, I., Fanany, R. and Kenny, S. (2009) ‘The meaning of capacity building in Indonesia’, doi: 10.1093/cdj/bsp044. We are grateful to the publishers of the Journal for permission to draw on this article.