A FRAMEWORK FOR COMMUNITY CAPACITY BUILDING: The Role of Assessment and Evaluation

This chapter covers the key role capacity development plays in the overall implementation and evaluation process. It provides a brief overview of capacity building, the strategic process, and introduces the capacity-building framework, which consists of eight dimensions. A capacity-building assessment that employs a consistent framework complements and can be combined with any data-driven strategic program development process and can also be coordinated with or integrated into program evaluation design. The chapter presents some basic definitions, an explanation of how capacity building fits into the broader processes of implementation and evaluation, a systems thinking orientation to capacity building, and a detailed presentation of the framework. It argues that capacity building and assessment are an important addition to the process of program development, integral to the implementation of new initiatives, and a process that overall improves and complements evaluation design. Assessing community capacity is a process of establishing the capability of the leadership and the community to effectively implement a program initiative.