Learning from capacity building practice: adapting the 'Most Significant Change' (MSC) approach to evaluate capacity building provision by CABUNGO in Malawi

'Most Significant Change' (MSC) is a story-based, qualitative and participatory approach to monitoring and evaluation. This case study of a Malawian capacity building support provider, CABUNGO, examines the usefulness and draw backs of MSC evaluation methods.

Key advantages of using MSC to evaluate capacity building include its ability to:

• capture and consolidate the different perspectives of stakeholders
• aid understanding and conceptualising complex organisational change processes
• enhance organisational learning by gathering accounts of concrete experiences which allow members to discuss and define areas where they could improve the quality of their practice.

The potential constraints lie in:

• meeting the needs of donor driven evaluation processes which tend to require specific quantitative data
• dealing with subjectivity and bias inherent in qualitative data collection.

Overall, the author concludes that MSC provides an effective approach to evaluating capacity. [adapted from author]