A brighter future : recommendations for the capacity building of the development sector in sub-Saharan Africa

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2008

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Southern New Hampshire University

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the poorest and least developed regions in the world. A lack of development capacity and the flight of human capital hamper the region's development efforts. The SCED is a leader in the field of community economic development and has recently made the decision to expand their academic and professional training programs throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. The SCED's limited knowledge of the needs of development practitioners and the composition of the development sector in Sub-Saharan Africa is limiting its capacity to offer demand-driven capacity building programs to help build the region's development sector. This paper provides a comparison of CED and LED, examines the evolution of LED and explores the role of NGOs. The paper presents training program needs, methods of evaluation and best practices for capacity building. This paper recommends that to ensure the achievement of the long-term outcomes the School must design training programs which incorporate local experts as facilitators and context-specific curriculum which trains for the full life-cycle of skills needed by practitioners. Program-related activities must include training of trainers within the sector, partnerships with reputable local academic and development organizations and a longitudinal evaluation tool which measures learning and impact on the sector. (Author abstract)

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