Welcome to the capacity assessment & development group

The state of the art of ICCO’s capacity building practice

Online exchange group of ICCO-advisors 

What do we want to communicate through this website?

 Through this website platform, we are aiming to accomplish the following:

1. To inform website visitors about resources and tools, which are applied in the field by development practitioners working with local organisations;
2. To publish about topics and issues about capacity assessment & development which are actual and relevant at the moment;
3. To provide a possibility for ICCO representatives to join the discussion group on capacity assessment & development
4. To identify resource persons on capacity assessment & development, who can provide added value to the discussion group.

Background

[Simon Koolwijk tells about the online exchange group of ICCO advisors on capacity assessment & development. This group exchanges experiences, learning questions and case studies through D-group and skype discussions. Each two months the group exchanges one or two case studies through electronic means]

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ICCO advisors are working across the world (eg. in Armenia, Great Lakes Region, Southern-, Western and Eastern Africa, Cambodia, Bolivia, Central America etc…). They are involved in capacity assessment and development of local organizations.

Capacity Assessment & Development is focused at strengthening local organisations (mainly ICCO partners) in effective and efficient service delivery to their target groups, for ICCO’s 3 thematic programs: 1) Sustainable fair economic development, 2) Democratisation & peace building, 3) Access to basic services.

Between January and March 2007 an online event was conducted on capacity assessment and development with 14 ICCO-advisors.  A summary of this conference can be consulted at http://icollaborate.blogspot.com/2007/06/12-weeks-online-conference-on-capacity.html“ 12-weeks Online Conference on Capacity Assessment & Development "

A lot of the advisors have indicated that they want to continue with this initiative. On the 18^th June 2007 a co-ordination group of 5 ICCO advisors decided that the Capacity Assessment & Development group will continue exchanging experiences about capacity building.

Goals and methodology of the group

1. To learn from each others’ experiences by sharing and learning from case studies linked to the personal work situation
2. To learn by sharing relevant information such as articles, best practices and other resources.

Information and questions which are generated by a case study are concentrated at 3 levels

1. To clarify the problem and find ways and suggestions on how to solve it
2. To identify wether the person contributing a case is working on the right problem, or if it is another or different problem that should be worked on
3. To foster personal growth and receive feedback on the case. The personal growth is both ways, since a case study from one group member can generate new questions or learnings with another member.

What will I get out of joining this group as an ICCO representative?

You will have the opportunity to listen and learn from other advisors, some experts in the field but most important of all, you can raise your own questions.  How much time do I need for a capacity assessment?  Should I use methodological tools?  Or should I just do it the informal way?   How do I deal with an authoritarian director, who is not charmed of participatory tools?  And how do I deal with a management team, who are not committed and are lacking too much motivation?  These or other questions you can raise in the discussions. We will use online discussions using an e-mail based platform optimized for low-bandwidth (www.Dgroups.org) as well as skype teleconferences. The program should not interrupt your ongoing work too much as you can participate whenever you have time (apart from the teleconferences which have a fixed time). Though it would be great if you could plan to invest some time to participate.

Facilitators

Each two months, two ICCO advisors will lead and moderate the discussions. The co-ordination committee consisting of Petra Hofman, Jouwert van Geene, Peter Oomen, Marieke Veeger and Marjolein Berings will be in charge of the moderation. They are assisted by Simon Koolwijk & Joitske Hulsebosch. 

Participants

The ICCO-CAD group consists of 20 advisors, working in  Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America. If you are interested, you can send your application for joining this discussion group to Simon Koolwijk - faccom[at]xs4all.nl    

We only admit people who are working for ICCO. We make an exception for resource persons or experts, who can provide their expertise for a determined amount of time.

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