AN ASSESSMENT OF WOREDA CAPACITY: THE CASE OF ...

‣ A state or condition which is inherently a systems phenomenon. Capacity involves a
complex combination of attitudes, resources, strategies and skills, both tangible and
intangible.
‣ A potential state. It is elusive and transient. Capacity is dependent to a large degree of
intangibles. It is thus hard to induce, manage and measure. As a state or condition, it can
disappear quickly particularly in smaller, more vulnerable structures.
‣ The creations of public value. All countries, regardless of their level of development,
have effective capacity that subverts the public interest.
While specific wording and emphasis may differ, there is a general consensus among
development actors that capacity is the ability of individuals, institutions and societies to solve
problems, make informed choices, define their priorities and plan their futures. Capacity
comprises of the resources, knowledge, and processes employed by the organization to achieve
its goals. These comprise the staffing, physical infrastructure, technology, and financial
resources; strategic leadership, program and process management; and networks and linkages
with other organizations and groups. An organization‘s personnel, facilities, technology, and
funding constitute its resource base. The organization's procedures and processes for managing
its resources and programs as well as its external relationships make up its management capacity.
Together, these resources and management capacities make up the overall capacity of the
organization.
2.2 Capacity Building
Capacity Building or capacity development was an issue of development for decades that is tied
to international development assistance of the 1950s and 1960s (Farrell, 2007; Simillie, 2001). It
was highly oriented to tackle short term technical constraints to project implementation with
focus on human resource development, equipping developing countries with a basic inventory of
public sector institutions and, later, strengthening them to improve their performance through
training, research, counterpart relationships and technical assistance, and political imperative was
not given due attention in effecting change (Leautier, et.al., 2010; Smillie, 2001; World Bank,
2005; OECD, 2006).
However, in many poor countries much of the assistance yielded very low returns. Four decades
of foreign technical assistance could not result in the achievement of sustainable national
capacity and prevented the utilization and development of endogenous skills that resulted in the
15