Do you agree on our initial ideas? - Revision of Danida’s Guidance note for CD support

As a first milestone in this CD learning process we have drafted a concept note for how to revise the present Danida “Guidance Note on Danish Support for Capacity Development”. The note draws on international experience, interviews with Danida staff (UFT) and review of various Danida guidelines for programme management. The aim is to ‘set the scene’ a new for understanding and addressing CD support within aid development programs.

Despite many years acknowledgement of the importance of CD as an integral part of Danish development assistance, the general experience is that addressing CD is still difficult both at a strategic and practical level and that results in terms of long-lasting improvements are meagre. If we want to change this we must be prepared to address some of the fundamental approaches and perceptions characterizing Danish development assistance. We  must put ownership (with all the ambiguities that this implies) back into the centre, and break the tendency to see CD as an add on or the final “gap-filler” between ambitious results – agreed in sector policies and programmes – and “gap-analysis” measuring the difference between present capacity and the capacity needed to obtain the results.

Concomitantly, however, we have to acknowledge all the dilemmas, contradictions and tensions that are inherent in development assistance including that the reality for Danida staff and consultants will continue to be marked by compressed timeslots for dialogue, identification, formulations, and of pressures for disbursement and risk-avoidance that will in many cases continue to lead to less than optimal approaches to CD. The revised CD guidance note aim to strike the delicate balance between pushing for a CD approach reflecting the ideal to the highest extent possible and yet still being realistic in terms of the Danida political room of maneuver and the  many real-time dilemmas and contradictions that we are faced with.

Does this seem to reflect your thinking on how CD should be addressed as well…? Join the debate, read the short synoposis below and upload your comments here as to whether this should be the line of direction in the future Danida CD guidance note.