Expanding Notions of Capacity: Theory and Policy at UNDP

UNDP is one of the main `faces’ of the United Nation’s system around the world, and the hub of its global development network. Working on the ground in more than 160 countries, UNDP helps nations meet their development objectives, and in particular the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Capacity development has been designated in UNDP’s current Strategic Plan as the agency’s ‘over-arching contribution’ in its development programming. The objective of the workshop was to find theoretical underpinnings for UNDP’s approach to capacity development, seek other theories or factors which may influence CD practice, and to examine empirical evidence of CD applications in order to propose improvements to the approach.