The Nuts and Bolts of Post-conflict Capacity Building: Practicable Lessons from East Timor
Huang, Reyko; Harris, Joseph
‘Capacity building’ has become a ubiquitous term in the international peacebuilding community.
While the need for capacity building in post-conflict contexts is widely accepted, discussions rarely
venture into what it is in practical and operational terms, and how it ought to be done. This
article1 examines a major capacity building project in East Timor, focusing on capacity building
as it occurs day to day and on the ground. Following a brief overview of the concept of capacity
building, it identifies a number of key challenges that arise in initiatives in which internationals
work directly with local actors to build their capacity. It then offers a set of concrete proposals,
targeted at capacity builders and their managing institutions, for improved practice.
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