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Synonyms

Administrative reforms; Organization development; Public administration reform

Definition

Capacity building refers to a broad palette of techniques and methods that help individuals, organizations, and communities develop solutions to address the obstacles which prevent them in reaching their development goals.

Introduction

This entry provides first an overview of the main characteristics of the concept and a short historical overview. Subsequent sections present profiles for the different approaches developed over time, with particular focus on administrative capacity building. A separate section discusses the relationship between the concept of “capacity building” and of “capability approach.”

Concept Characteristics and Historical Evolution

Present in the policy discourse and in the scientific studies during the 1960s as a component of administration development (Pollitt and Bouckaert 2011), the concept of “capacity development” was initially coupled to the reconstruction...

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Correspondence to Veronica Junjan .

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Junjan, V. (2020). Capacity Building. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3004-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3004-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

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