Capacity assessment methodology: user’s guide

This capacity assessment methodology user’s guide provides United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other development practitioners with an overview of UNDP’s approach to Capacity Development and Capacity Assessment. It also produces a step-by-step guide to conducting a capacity assessment using UNDP’s “default” Capacity Assessment Framework and Supporting Tool.

The Capacity Assessment Framework discussed is composed of three dimensions:

1. First are the points of entry: the UNDP recognises that a country’s capacity resides on different levels and thus, needs to be addressed across these levels. A capacity assessment team selects one level as its point of entry, and may “zoom in” or “zoom out” from that level as needed.
2. Second are the core issues which represent the issues upon which UNDP is most often called to address. Not all of these will necessarily be analysed in any given assessment, but they provide a comprehensive set of issues from which a capacity assessment team may choose as it defines its scope.
3. Thirdly are the cross-cutting functional capacities: here, specific functional capacities are necessary for the successful creation and management of policies, legislations, strategies and programmes.

Key points and sections from the guide include:

• a capacity assessment must be deployed correctly to yield the intended outcomes. The following steps guide the technical process and are recommended in undertaking a capacity assessment exercise: mobilise and design, conduct the capacity assessment, and then summarise and interpret the results 
  
• guidelines on adapting the methodology to conduct a quick capacity assessment and using it in conjunction with the other assessment methodologies. These guidelines include; addressing all topic areas at a high level, and carrying out millennium needs project assessments 
  
• the assessment of capacity and the resulting interpretation of differences between existing and desired levels of capacity drive the creation of capacity development strategy options. The capacity development plan should consist of high-priority, short- to medium-term strategic initiatives, and immediate quick impact activities that build the foundation for ongoing capacity development as well as build momentum for the process.