This book examines capacity building in both developing and developed countries and takes the position that fragile communities are present in all societies.

Capacity-building:where has it come from? What is capacity-building? Whose capacities? Investing in people. Investing in organisations. Investing in networks. Building capacity in crisis.

In the groundbreaking text, Bridging the Gap Between Asset/Capacity Building and Needs Assessment, James W. Altschuld examines the synthesis of two antithetical ideas—needs assessment and asset/capacity building.

A central theme is to understand capacity as more than something internal to organisations. This book shows how capacity also stems from connections between different types of actor and the levels in society at which they operate.

"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.

The third and final in a series, this text bridges the conceptual foundations of capacity development and the difficulties and practical realities in the field.

The perspective that informs this important book is that every evaluation of a capacity development effort should itself contribute to the capacity development effort and ultimately to the organization’s performance.

This is a comprehensive guide to strengthening capacity of local community groups.

The book reveals that development work, far from requiring a singular solution, is and should be a never-ending process.