Capacity Development Learning Week

Statement on Investments in Capacities for National Development


Ladies and Gentlemen,
Distinguished Participants,

On the 22nd of April 2009, UNDP, SNV Netherlands Development Organization, and ESCAP hosted a gathering of capacity development practitioners from 10 countries in the region. They included representatives of government, civil society, development partners and academia.

The workshop marked the culmination of 3-years of practice, study and dialogue on investments in capacities for national development, and produced the following statement:


We live in a region with high levels of poverty and inequality. These are being exacerbated by the current economic and food crisis. Responses to date have focused on short term fiscal stimulus packages designed to trigger quick recovery. We feel it is crucially important that these measures are balanced by strategies for longer term recovery and sustainable growth.

In this climate, now more than ever, the emphasis needs to be on the efficiency of spending: it’s vital that every dollar of investment in development is put to work in the most effective way possible.

Investments of time, people and money should now focus on enabling governments, civil society and private sector organizations at all levels to deliver basic services and stimulate local economic growth.

With the Accra Agenda for Action donors and partner countries have already committed to designing National Capacity Development Strategies. We believe these strategies will only work, however, if they are first and foremost supported by adequate resources.

Furthermore we must recognize that people and organizations develop themselves, and therefore must be centrally involved in identifying their own needs, and creating and achieving their own solutions.

Strategies need to foster a culture of accountability and performance in the public sector.

They need to encourage people to demand services and hold providers to account.

And they need to take fresh approaches to promoting local economic growth, specifically through engagement between local producers, the private sector and government.

Such efforts, however, demand a radical overhaul of the ways in which we currently develop capacity. This is not just about training individuals – it is about changing mindsets and transforming organizations, it is about bringing a range of diverse actors together in a process that leads to better services, thriving markets and thus a better quality of life for all people in the region, especially ethnic minorities and women.

In this time of crisis, prioritizing your National Capacity Development Strategies could be the most important decision you make.

Thank you for your kind attention.

- Final statement from the UNDP-SNV-ESCAP Workshop, 22 April 2009
The statement was developed based on inputs from the technical workshop by: Prof. Briones, Dr. Saxena, Bill Todd, Iffat Idriss, Ashley Palmer, Lucia Nass, and marketing/PR consultant Allison. It has been read today at the ESCAP Special Body by the Nepal Delegation.