ABSTRACT
Capacity building is a concept beset by conflict and confusion. It is open to a variety of different interpretations. For some it is concerned with building the organizational capacities of individual non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to survive and fulfil their mission; while for others it is broader, involving building the capacity of civil society as a whole and strengthening the capacity of key stakeholders (including communities, families and individuals) to participate in the political and social arena (Eade, 1997). Clearly there is no one universally accepted definition of capacity building as the diversity of literature in this area demonstrates (Eade, 1997; James, 1998; 2002; Lewis, 2001; Sahley, 1995; Smillie and Hailey, 2001). Furthermore, capacity building, as a term is not easily translated into different languages and perhaps not surprisingly, is rarely used outside the development community or the non-profit sector.
