The Capacity Development Results Framework

The Capacity Development Results Framework (CDRF or the Framework) is a powerful new approach to the design, implementation, monitoring, management, and evaluation of development programs.

• Originally conceived to address well-documented problems in the narrow field of capacity development, the Framework can be profitably applied to assess the feasibility and coherence of proposed development projects, to monitor projects during implementation (with a view to taking corrective action), or to assess the results, or even the design, of completed projects.
• The Framework can also be used as a step-by-step guide to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of projects and programs designed to build capacity for development at a national or sub-national level. That is how it is illustrated here. We chose this approach because such a guide was sorely needed, and because it allowed us to illustrate the full set of tools and processes provided by the Framework.

The CDRF ties together various strands of change theory, capacity economics, pedagogical science, project management, and monitoring and evaluation practice to provide a rigorous yet practical instrument.

• A key feature of the Framework is its focus on capacity factors that impede the achievement of development goals, and on how learning interventions can be designed to improve the ―development-friendliness‖ of capacity factors by supporting locally driven change.

As noted, the CDRF addresses several long-standing criticisms of capacity development work, including the lack of clear definitions, coherent conceptual frameworks, and effective monitoring of results. It also promotes a common, systematic approach to capacity development. Such an approach can greatly enhance the scope for learning about what happens in different contexts by improving comparability across programs and easing the administrative burden on developing-country partners by harmonizing donors' project specifications and the way they measure results.

• The CDRF can help to clarify objectives, assess prevailing capacity factors, identify appropriate agents of change and change processes, and guide the design of effective learning activities.
• The Framework encourages articulation of a complete results chain that bridges the gap often found between broad overall objectives and specific learning activities.
• The CDRF requires stakeholders and practitioners to think through and trace out the relationship of a defined set of variables to any development goal in a given context, and to model explicitly the change process that is expected to be facilitated by learning. This explicit modeling does not necessarily imply detailed blueprints and plans.
• The Framework is compatible with a broad range of situations and approaches to change management. But in all cases key actors in the change process must be identified and offered the knowledge and tools that they need to produce change in the direction of the desired goals. Critical points in the change path must be identified. At each such point, new information and experience must be assessed to guide subsequent decisions.
• Building capacity, driving change, and achieving development goals will typically be iterative processes. (Abstract)