ABSTRACT
Over the last 20 years, many countries receiving external support show a rapid growth in expertise for ‘doing development’. For capacity development, this trend is reflected in the rise of home-grown specialized organizations and support structures. Unfortunately, there has been little analysis or discussion of how this ‘service environment’ for CD is evolving, or how it may be strategically supported.
This chapter shares the results of an initial effort to analyse the service environment for capacity development, including a sample of very different countries. It shows a pattern of strong centralization, patchy outreach to sub-national actors and little ‘demand power’. In other words, capacity development outside national capitals and large urban locations is not well served by the present financing dynamics and provider community.A set of changes in financing logics and assistance strategies are proposed to better support the development of service environments for capacity development. In this way, Southern expertise can become more effective and better able to take the lead in developing the capacity of its own societies.
