Implications for Capacity Building Practice

All organizations face complexity and uncertainty and, to some degree, analyses and adapt to forces for change within their environment. However, some do this more consciously and successfully than others. While existing capacity needs to be valued and supported, this paper suggests that strengthening analytical and adaptive capacities may help CSOs increase their effectiveness. To do so, these capacities should become institutionalized as part of the way things are done by the organization according to its vision and values, rather than remain as individual capacities of staff members. This may be more about crafting and sustaining an organization not just as a productive actor but also a human community59. Different types of organization may also need to use these capacities in different ways or to different degrees. Strengthening analytical and adaptive capacities can also be seen as an integral part of any capacity building process, for example through organizational development (OD) or leadership development, and not just as an outcome.
The theoretical considerations presented in this paper are helpful for conceptualizing analytical and adaptive capacity. In this section we take this a step further by exploring how these concepts might be useful for putting theory into practice to strengthen the analytical and adaptive capacities of CSOs operating in developing and transitional countries. To do this we will:
• identify the analytical and adaptive capacities that might be most relevant for CSOs
• explore the factors which influence the development of these analytical and adaptive capacities