Exchanging knowledge, promoting dialogue

While having a shared national vision, strong political commitment and leadership, and the right set of strategies are all important for achieving development results – including meeting the MDGs – real success depends on actions at the local level. This entails local actors having the abilities to translate national visions and strategies into concrete measures and on-the-ground activities. In reality, however, this is often the level where capacity is the weakest. Even when countries are well on track to achieve the MDGs, national averages often hide the regional and local disparities that reflect capacity differentials as well as pockets of poverty and inequality.

In view of these realities, governments and development partners have focused on developing capacities at the sub-national levels as part of bigger reform processes – public administration, decentralization, local governance, integrated local development, MDG localization, etc. – with mixed results.

Capturing objectively-tested case evidence regarding what works in developing sub-national capacities in different contexts is thus critical to inform global knowledge and practice.

UNDP/CDG (Capacity Development Group), in partnership with SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, has developed a thematic research folder on sub-national capacities for the ‘Capacity is Development’ campaign and March, 2010, Global Event. The general lens of inquiry is to look at what policy decisions and investments – and sustained over what periods of time – have led to robust sub-national capacities, and therefore demonstrate development results emanating from their strength at the sub-national level.

These short ‘Op-Ed’ style papers provide tangible, evidence-based menus of options and policy choices for national governments as they go about tackling the complex but vital challenge of capacity development: