The Health Policy Project ended in 2016. Work continued under Health Policy Plus (HP+) until 2022.
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The Organizational Capacity Assessment Suite of Tools
Defining Capacity Development
Capacity development is the process of helping an organization, institution, or even health system gain the capacity (power and ability) to reach its goals. Sound capacity is needed in a range of organizational spheres, including management, administration, finance, human resources, and technical areas (e.g., family planning, maternal and child health, HIV). Capacity is best built and maintained through an ongoing, iterative process that includes assessment and analysis, action planning, implementation, and improvement and adaptation.
Developing Capacity: The Organizational Capacity Assessment Suite of Tools for Policy, Advocacy, Governance, and Finance
HPP’s Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA) Suite of Tools helps organizations or institutions along the path to becoming organizations capable of fulfilling the functions necessary to achieve health policy objectives in low- and middle-income countries. The tools are highly participatory and designed to be facilitated by someone outside an organization's staff.
The suite simultaneously shows how to orient key organizational stakeholders to relevant capacity issues and how to conduct a self-assessment and scoring process. The tools then guide participants through a results debrief and action planning for strategic capacity improvements.
By conducting an OCA, you can
- Establish a baseline of the organization’s capacity in key policy areas
- Begin an ongoing, participatory organizational dialogue and learning process
- Collectively agree to practical standards and goals
- Generate a plan to reach and maintain the standards and goals
What does the OCA suite include?
Everything you need: a step-by-step facilitator guide, with supporting resources and user-friendly spreadsheets and templates to help participants learn about and discuss key topics, rate their organization’s capacities, analyze the results, and plan for improvements where needed.
Click the links below to learn more about HPP's approach to capacity development and to access the suite of tools:
Capacity for Policy, Advocacy, Governance, and Finance: The Health Policy Project’s Approach
Strengthening Capacity in Policy, Advocacy, Governance, and Finance: A Facilitator Guide for Organizational Capacity Assessments
Includes the Facilitator Guide, Capacity Indicators Catalog, and OCA Results Spreadsheet
Capacity Development Resource Guides
The following technical areas are covered:
- Accountability Systems
- Advocacy
- Data Analysis and Use
- Gender
- Health Financing
- Implementation Barriers
- Knowledge Translation
- Monitoring and Evaluation
- Multisectoral Collaboration
- Networking and Coalition Building
- Policy Analysis
- Policy Dialogue
- Policy Monitoring
- Poverty
- Stigma and Discrimination
- Strategy Development
Capacity Development for Policy and Advocacy: Briefs
We’ve captured years of experience in our easy-to-use assessment tool, practical recommendations, and case studies that paint vivid portraits of possible change, as well as bite-sized guides that delineate capacity ideals for various areas of policy, advocacy, finance, and governance. We’ve also got the “how”—three new briefs that show powerful creative approaches to capacity development, featuring seconding, coaching, and study tours.
Seconding as a Capacity Development Tool for Global Health: Lessons from the Field
