Capacity building for local NGOs : a guidance manual for good practice

The concept for the manual arose from groundbreaking work in CIIR/ICD’s Somaliland programme initiated in 2000. This work continues today through a long-standing programme of capacity-building support to the indigenous local NGO sector in Somaliland funded by Comic Relief. Through this publication, we hope that this guidance on capacity building will have a wider use and purpose and will prove of benefit to capacity-building activities with local organisations in many different parts of the world.

The original manuals (written by Lainie Thomas and now collected together into this publication) arose from an international NGO forum created in Somaliland in 1999, known as the Capacity Building Caucus (CBC). In the early 1990s, as Somaliland emerged from civil war and conflict, indigenous non-governmental and community-based organisations mushroomed. International organisations began targeting reconstruction and development aid through local organisations and quickly came to realise the need for institutional strengthening and capacity building.

• This comprehensive manual on capacity building can be used for training and development or by local NGOs as a self-help manual. Each chapter is available to download separately