Capacity Development of Sub-National State Administrations in Post-Conflict / Post-Disaster Context - Brief Description

Objectives: The objective of this method is to provide post conflict / post disaster project managers and advisors a stepwise approach for assessing capacity development (CD) needs for local state administrations in fragile situations and countries. The method provides an analytical approach for determining the causes of fragility and provides a capacity development framework that can be applied for targeting the CD measures. The method addresses approaches for working with and strengthening local state administrations for reconstruction and rehabilitation measures. Development Oriented Emergency and Transitional Aid–DETA- projects have been been one important element of Germany’s overall Development Cooperation instruments that ranges from humanitarian assistance (supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - AA) through Development Oriented Emergency and Transitional Aid to longer term Development Cooperation (which is provided by the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development – BMZ). This is basically in-line with the LRRD approach (Linking relief Rehabilitation and Development). The concept was established in the mid-1990s when it became more and more evident that better development can reduce the need for emergency relief, better relief can contribute to development, and better rehabilitation can ease the transition between the two. The GIZ implements many DETA projects on behalf of the BMZ. The role of Development Oriented Emergency and Transitional Aid has gained increasing importance in recent years as a result of on-going conflicts, increasing natural disasters as well the result of other crises such as food and financial crises in 2008/09. While the DETA instrument as such is a unique German instrument  (no other OECD country has such an instrument) that are designed to fill the gap between humanitarian emergency assistance, rehabilitation and longer-term development assistance, the GIZ has further refined and developed the way in which it implements DETA projects by fully integrating the concept of capacity development for sub-national state organisations and institutions. The method is based upon the notion that fragility can be typified along four major dimensions of failure, e.g. authority failure, service failure, legitimacy failure and security failure (Stewart F, Brown G, June 2010). Furthermore, capacity development can also be similarly categorised namely into five capabilities, namely capability to: self-organise, generate development results, establish supportive structures, adapt and renew and achieve coherence. By clustering the capacity development along these dimensions, post conflict post disaster projects can target the CD measures directly towards meeting these capabilities and thus contribute towards addressing some of the causes of fragility in the project area.