NGO support toolkit (English)  >  Strategic planning  >  Situation assessment 

Capacity analysis

An initial capacity analysis involves assessing the current level of capacity and types of support required by civil society, and the existing nature and level of NGO support provided (whether by NGOs or other agencies). This will help identify where and how the NGO support provider’s (NSP) resources can be applied most effectively to develop civil society capacity (whether directly from the NSP itself or in partnership with other agencies).

Analysis of their own capacities will enable NSPs to assess where they need to build their own capacity (technical assistance, grant management, organisational development, financial capacity) in order to achieve their existing aims or take on additional NSP functions (See NSP management)

Capacity analysis, therefore, can be used in initial assessments to identify the following requirements:

• The maturity, structure and enabling environment of civil society to identify gaps and the extent to which new community groups need support and information, bridging or networking structures need to be developed, and legal or policy advocacy is needed.
• The extent to which there is good understanding and demand for capacity building amongst NGOs and CBOs.
• The range of existing institutions or organisations that have the interest and potential capacity to provide support to NGOs and CBOs.
• Existing institutions or organisations that could provide specific functions to complement a ‘core’ NGO support programme (for example, by establishing resource centres, or procuring commodities).
• The extent to which NGOs mainly implementing activities can be linked up to build capacity with each other ‘horizontally’, through the creation of networks.
• Indirectly related capacity weaknesses, risks and contingencies that may be critical in planning an NGO support programme. For example, weaknesses in government capacity to provide related services; border and customs regulations which could delay delivery of drugs; language barriers; the potential for staff to be living with HIV/AIDS who may fall ill.

NSPs will also be involved in ongoing capacity analysis as part of their programme. For example, this may be in learning which groups can handle particular kinds of projects, activities or extra funding, and in assessing the changing technical assistance needs of partners.

In re-assessing capacity once an NGO/CBO support programme is established, NSPs may also get valuable contributory information from the results of monitoring and evaluation. Key elements in capacity analysis as part of a re-assessment include identifying:

• how technical and other support needs have changed since the beginning of the programme
• new sources of NGO support which may have developed in parallel with the programme, or existing sources which may have been overlooked
• the strengths and weaknesses of the various methods and approaches that have been used to develop civil society capacity.

Related themes

Capacity and credibility assessment

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