Partnerships and Capacity Building Can be Transformative: Why Do We Often Fail and What Might We Do Differently

1. PARTNERSHIPS AND CAPACITY
BUILDING CAN BE
TRANSFORMATIVE: WHY DO WE
OFTEN FAIL AND WHAT MIGHT WE
DO DIFFERENTLY.
CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT @ JSI

2. FOUR IDEAS
1) The Art vs. the Science of Capacity
Building
2) Change vs. Transformation
3) Leadership
4) UBUNTU

3. FAMILIES & COMMUNITIES
HIV AND AIDS

4. THE ART & THE SCIENCE OF CB
STARTING POINTS
ART
• How we do capacity
building is as important,
than the what we do;
• Role of co-discovery,
facilitating, listening; and
• Good capacity building
ultimately provides
opportunities for
communities to lead in
the response.
SCIENCE
• Tools are useful, but
‘one size fits all’
approaches are not
• Measurement is critical
and needed – but we are
not very good at it;
• Systems are essential.

5. CHANGE OR TRANSFORMATION
Change
Fixes the Past
Transformation
Creates a Future

6. ELUDING ABDUCTION IN NORTHERN UGANDA:
NIGHT COMMUTERS AND EVALINE AKELLO

7. I AM THE NURSE ON THE RIGHT

8. TRANSFORMATION AND LEADERSHIP

9. MANDELA SAID…
“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this
struggle of the African people. I have fought against
white domination, and I have fought against black
domination. I have cherished the ideal of a
democratic and free society in which all persons live
together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It
is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve.
But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared
to die.” Mandela

10. HE DID NOT SAY…
“I have a 3 point plan which outlines our vision on how to
end apartheid through the creation of:
1) A free and fair society;
2) A democratization process; and
3) An increase in equal opportunities for all.”

11. UBUNTU
“A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others,
affirming of others, does not feel threatened that
others are able and good, for he or she has a proper
self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she
belongs to the greater whole and is diminished when
others are humiliated or diminished”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 1999

12. UBUNTU AND CAPACITY BUILDING
As long as there are employees who think of themselves as ‘little
people’, the work of Ubuntu is not finished
Considers the success of the group above that of the individual
With trust and respect, others will give you the benefit of the doubt.
Without trust and respect, motivational techniques come across as
manipulation
Does not mean respecting bad work. It does mean respecting the person
who does the work.
If you allow differences to define a relationship, you will always be at
odds with others. Ubuntu asks:
What do we have in common?
How can we best work together?
• Developed from ‘Ubuntu!’ Stephen Lundin and Bob Nelson

13. WHAT COULD THIS MEAN FOR CAPACITY
BUILDING OR PARTNERSHIP?
• The Art and Science of Capacity Building has its place;
how and what we do, but it is not enough. Yet, it is
where we often focus.
• Change is designed to make something from the past
better. Transformation creates a new future, not bound
by what was. “A butterfly is not a better caterpillar”.

14. • Leadership that transforms, is largely about how we
think, act and communicate from the inside out.
Leaders don’t talk about plans first, they
communicate their purpose, belief, or cause. Martin
Luther King had a dream….not a 12 point plan
• Ubuntu inspires us to see that we are linked,
together and that diminishing another only diminishes
us. That we are partners.

15. FINAL THOUGHT