The DAC Working Party on Aid Evaluation, as part of its mandate, has the promotion of evaluation capacity in developing countries. One of the instruments has been regional seminars organized jointly with the regional development banks (Africa in 1990, Asia in 1992, Latin America in 1993, in Africa again in 1998, and in Beijing in 1999 – I have had the privilege to attend most of them) and throu...

1. In international development, capacity is seen as “the ability of people, organizations and society as a whole to manage their affairs successfully”, leading to attainment of the Millennium Development Goals and FAO’s three Global Goals in line with national development plans. Capacity Development (CD) is the “process whereby people, organizations and society as a whole unleash, strengthen, ...

This paper explores renewed possibilities for volunteering in develop ment cooperation, based on the possibilities for ubiquitous networking made possible by new digital technologies. Its preparation has been prompted by two separate yet related processes. First, the revisiting of the principles and practices of technical co operation and capacity building underway at UNDP, for which the recent...

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Communities are facing new and more powerful challenges to their survival. Globalization threatens the economic base of many of them. International markets create new competition among localities for capital investments and generate pressures to lower labor costs. Globalization also makes it more diffi cult for communities to plan for the future because of the mobility of capital and labor. In ...

The changing context for agricultural development has highlighted a strong need to understand and adoptinnovation systems thinking. Science, technology and innovation policy has equated rural development toagricultural development. The main objective of this paper was to examine the role of innovation capacity inagricultural sector. With the growing diversification of rural livelihood options i...

This commentary addresses the statement that “the authors believe that the HRH [Human Resources for Health] Program can serve as a model for other initiatives that seek to address the shortage of qualified health professionals in low-income countries and strengthen the long-term capacity of local academic institutions.” I adopt the position of the devil’s advocate and ask whether a country, wit...

Providing universal health coverage (UHC) through better maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health (MNCAH) can benefit both parties through North–South research collaborations. This paper describes lessons learned from bringing together early career researchers, tutors, consultants and mentors from the United Kingdom, Kenya, and South Africa to work in multi-disciplinary teams in a capaci...