Capacity-building: An Approach to People-centred Development

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Oxfam, 1997 - Social Science - 226 pages
The prime purpose of Oxfam and similar development agencies is to assist poor men and women in changing their situation and exercising their right to participate in the development of their societies. However, aid agencies that ignore peoples existing strengths may create dependency, and so make people more vulnerable than before. This book examines the concept of capacity-building and why it is such an integral part of development. It considers specific and practical ways in which NGOs can contribute to enabling people to build on the capacities they already possess, while avoiding undermining such capacities.

"Capacity-Building" reviews the types of social organization with which NGOs might consider working, and the provision of training in a variety of skills and activities, for the people involved and for their organization. The particular importance of using a capacity-building approach in emergency situations, and the dynamic and long-term nature of the process, are emphasized.
 

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Page 64 - In the context of health experience, an impairment is any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological, or anatomical structure or function. Disability: In the context of health experience, a disability is any restriction or lack (resulting from an impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being.
Page 154 - We want a world where inequality based on class, gender and race is absent from every country and from the relationships among countries. We want a world where basic needs become basic rights and where poverty and all forms of violence are eliminated.
Page 60 - Rights; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the Convention on the Rights of the Child; the...
Page 5 - ... civil society is, together with state and market, one of the three 'spheres' that interface in the making of democratic societies. Civil society is the sphere in which social movements become organized. The organizations of civil society, which represent many diverse and sometimes contradictory social interests are shaped to fit their social base, constituency, thematic orientations (eg environment, gender, human rights) and types of activity. They include church related groups, trade unions,...
Page 64 - Handicap is therefore a function of the relationship between disabled persons and their environment. It occurs when they encounter cultural, physical or social barriers which prevent their access to the various systems of society that are available to other citizens.
Page 26 - Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; Teach him how to fish, feed him for a lifetime.
Page 2 - Strengthening people's capacity to determine their own values and priorities, and to act on these, is the basis of development.
Page 13 - From this perspective, development can best be described as an apparatus that links forms of knowledge about the Third World with the deployment of forms of power and intervention, resulting in the mapping and production of Third World societies. Development constructs the contemporary Third World, silently, without our noticing it. By means of this discourse, individuals, governments and communities are seen as 'underdeveloped
Page 172 - In fact goods, services etc should be provided only insofar as they support sustainable development by increasing local capacities and reducing vulnerabilities. 4 The way that such resources are transferred must be held to the same test. 5 Programming must not be solely pre-occupied with meeting urgent needs but must integrate such needs into efforts that address the social/organisational and motivational/attitudinal elements as well.
Page 172 - Development work should be concerned with long-term sustainability. Thus every development programme and project should anticipate and be designed to prevent or mitigate disasters. Thus, they should identify and address the vulnerabilities of the people with whom they work and ensure that these are reduced over time.

About the author (1997)

Deborah Eade was Editor-in-Chief of Development in Practice from 1991 to 2010, prior to which she worked for 10 years in Latin America. She is now an independent writer on development and humanitarian issues, based near Geneva.

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