INTRAC’S PIECES OF EIGHT

The ‘Pieces of Eight’: Critical Components for Developing an Organisation’s Capacity Building Strategy

INTRAC has identified eight critical components in capacity building which INTRAC calls ‘pieces of eight’ (a British cultural reference to Long John Silver’s parrot who talks about the hidden treasure in these terms), which form a framework for thinking about the nature of this work, and the choices to be made by the organisation engaged in it. They are:

  1. The Capacity Building for What? Question – what is the agenda that is driving the organisation’s engagement with capacity building work?
  1. What is understood by the term Capacity Building? Exploring the key characteristics and reviewing different definitions used by different organisations engaged in this work.
  1. Continuums: reflections on where the organisation places itself along a spectrum vis a vis the approach it takes, for example the means/end debate or the ‘robust’ vs. ‘absorption’ models of capacity building (this diagram was used to explore this one):

Capacity Building as a Means / Capacity Building as an End
Capacity building of an organisation / Strengthen organisation to perform specified activities (one of which may be to build capacity among primary stakeholders). / Strengthen organisation to survive and fulfil its mission as defined by the organisation.
Capacity building in society / Strengthen capacity of primary stakeholders to implement defined activities / Strengthen the ability of primary stakeholders to participate in political and socio-economic arena according to objectives defined by them
  1. Levels of Capacity Building: how this work can operate at different levels e.g. from the individual through to society-wide interventions. The organisation needs to be clear about which levels it wishes to operate at and why, and think about the connections between the levels.
  1. Understanding Organisations: developing a conceptual framework for analysing organisations, and reflecting on choices to be made vis a vis a systemic approach to organisational capacity building. One key model is that of the ‘3 circles’ which expresses a holistic understanding of the key dimensions of organisations.

Another is the ‘onion model’, which illustrates in more detail the internal organisation and its elements (see Annex 2).

  1. The types of capacity building interventions: exploring the range of interventions possible – at the level of individual organisations but also at community, network, sector levels.
  1. The role of the Northern NGO: analysing the range of roles that could be played by the NNGO in relation to capacity building interventions.
  1. Context: identifying the importance of being aware of the way in which the external environment, and the internal organisational culture/values influence the choices being made and the approaches being taken.