Contents: (1) Foreword by Kemal Dervis, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator: Strengthening capacity for positive change; (2) Improving lives through capacity development; (3) UNDP¿s role in the UN development system; (4) UNDP programmes: Capacity development in action: Strong institutions, inclusive growth: Poverty reduction and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals; Empowering citizens for development: Democratic governance; Strengthening capacity to surmount vulnerability: Crisis prevention and recovery; Greening growth: Environment and sustainable development; (5) Developing capacities to deliver results; (6) UNDP resources. Illustrations.

This book considers specific and practical ways in which NGO's can contribute to enabling people to build on the capacities they already possess. It reviews the types of social organisation with which NGO's might consider working and the provision of training in a variety of relevant skills and activities.

First Published in 2010. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

African countries need to improve the performance of their public sectors if they are going to achieve their goals of growth, poverty reduction, and the provision of better services for their citizens. Between 1995 and 2004, the Bank provided some $9 billion in lending and close to $900 million in grants and administrative budget to support public sector capacity building in Africa. This evaluation assesses Bank support for public sector capacity building in Africa over these past 10 years. It is based on six country studies, assessments of country strategies and operations across the Region, and review of the work of the World Bank Institute, the Institutional Development Fund, and the Bank-supported African Capacity Building Foundation.

This publication offers a framework for the empowerment of people living in poverty throughout the world that concentrates on increasing people's freedom of choice and action to shape their own lives. Based on analysis of practical experiences, the book identifies four key elements to support empowerment: information, inclusion and participation, improved accountability and local organisational capacity. This framework is then applied to five areas of action to improve development effectiveness: provision of basic services, improved local governance, improved national governance, pro-poor market development, and access to justice and legal aid. It also offers twenty 'tools and practices' which concentrate on a wide-range of topics to support the empowerment of the poor.

"This book contains seven chapters, each of which presents one of more cases of action learning or capacity development. These cases have engaged the research and non-governmental communities in diverse settings in -- mostly -- Africa. All aimed to strengthen intellectual engagement and the culture of enquiry, as part of a knowledge translation process. This means that not only knowledge institutes and researchers participated but also problem owners, policymakers, practitioners, advocates and other end-users of research."--Publisher.

This report details the broad scope of United Nations Environment Programme activities with regards to capacity building in support of the goals of sound environmental management and sustainable development. Aspects considered include: legal and institutional development; sustainable management of natural resources; integrating economic development and environmental protection; environmental assessment, monitoring and reporting; promoting public awareness and participation in environmental management.