Capacity Development

Overview

Capacity development of national counterparts is a core of UNDP’s mandate. It is a cross-cutting agenda for all the practice areas of UNDP. Capacity development in UNDP may differ from that of other development agencies as it goes beyond training of national counterparts. It is a comprehensive approach that includes training of individuals as well as institutional reform and ensuring accountability mechanisms. It is also a process of supporting national counterparts to fill a “capacity gap – gap of current capacity and future desired capacity”. Effective capacity development interventions need to be formulated based on holistic capacity assessments mentioned in the Assessment section of this Toolkit.

In electoral assistance, scope of capacity development has grown wider in recent years due to the introduction of the “Electoral Cycle Approach”. The Electoral Cycle Approach now requires development agencies including UNDP to deal with capacity development of EMBs and other electoral stakeholders with various entry points, with a view of ensuring long-term success of multiple elections and electoral processes.

What You'll Learn Here

This section will introduce you to the concept of capacity development in electoral assistance. Using the EMB’s capacity development as an entry point, it will also provide you with various opportunities of capacity development in electoral cycle.