The Full Picture

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The business of capacity-development

Ehrlich Desa, Joannes Berque, Mika Odido and Stefano Mazzilli, UNESCO/IOC;

Geoff Holland, 2WE Associates Consulting, Canada; Antonio Hoguane, School of Marine and

Coastal Sciences, Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique; Venu Ittekkot, Center for

Tropical Marine Ecology, Leibniz Institute, University of Bremen, Germany;

Shailesh Nayak, Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services; Ayobami Salami,

Space Applications and Environmental Science Laboratory, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Studies,

Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria; Paco Ocampo Torres, Centro de Investigacion

Cientifica y de Educacion Superior de Ensenada, Mexico

nderstanding the ocean’s role in the earth system has

increased in importance in recent times as we have come

to realize the effect that humankind is having on the

planet’s climate system. Considering the ocean’s size, variabil-

ity and inaccessibility it is obvious that the task of monitoring

and understanding the coastal and open ocean cannot be carried

out only by the capable few. All coastal states must be involved

in this global activity because even with GEOSS fully functional,

local capabilities must still validate products and downscale

them for the benefit of local communities.

To achieve sustain-

able benefits, this process must be self-driven – the institute in

the developing world must drive the cooperation with its foreign

partners.

Lessons from decades of scientific cooperation

Capacity-development (CD) interventions therefore have good

reason to be included in all major international programmes. Yet

after many decades of such efforts we are not devel-

oping capacity fast enough to address the increasing

challenges from a rapidly degrading environment. In

fact, developing nations are no better off in their

capacities to address their own responsibilities and

benefits today than five decades ago, because CD has

not kept pace with an accelerating environmental

degradation.

Climate change will make the world a poorer place

and the hardest hit will be Africa and the developing

countries,

and in response, capacity-development will

receive greater attention and resources. Many excellent

donor-funded projects in developing regions contribute

to capacity-development. However, many others unwit-

tingly have had just the opposite effect.

The differences between working and non-working

projects are many, though two important ones need

mention. Firstly, local scientists must be involved with

externally funded projects from the time of formulation

if national priorities are to be met. If this does not

happen, local scientists may go to work on ‘attractive’

externally funded projects, thus neglecting core national

priorities. Secondly, donor haste to develop capacity

usually targets short-term research projects with appar-

ent tangible achievements, and pay almost no attention

to the longer-term programme of developing scientific

infrastructure and science education.

What is the suggested approach?

In principle, capacity-development needs to target

national priorities to ensure a greater level of ownership

and consequently sustainability of project outcomes.

National institutes, with the mandate of addressing

national priorities, rather than individual scientists or

NGOs, are the best partners to ensure sustainability in

defining and planning projects. The capacity-develop-

ment approaches of many organizations now follow

these principles.

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Photo: School of Marine and Coastal

Sciences, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane

The school teaches degree courses in applied oceanography and marine

biology, conducts applied research and implements projects for sustainable use

of natural resources

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