""Creative Capacity Development, " should be compulsory reading for
every first world donor and development expert, every peace
building and human rights practitioner, every development studies
student, and every fresh faced volunteer to the third world. For
the inexperienced, it will raise awareness about the many pitfalls
that lay ahead in development relationships and building capacity.
For the experienced, it is a reminder how easy it is for us to get
stuck in our ways, think we have all the answers and, over time,
lose our creativity and flexibility. The lessons shared here are
authentic and rich as Jenny Pearson has honestly shared the
successes, failures, assumptions and vulnerabilities of her own
development practice journey."
"Creative Capacity Development explores [Pearson's] perceptions and
achievements in establishing development work that embraces a
variety of approaches and solutions rather than a singular path.
College-level urban development and social issues courses will
welcome this survey!"
"Creative Capacity Development illustrates that the processes of
changing what may be oppressive cultural beliefs is a long term
objective that requires a multitude of opportunities to build
capabilities, experiment with new ideas, and test novel approaches.
Further, in order the grasp the main lessons of the book a shared
perspective that in the field of international development,
particularly in post-conflict situations, a healing approach is
much more likely than skills building to lead to positive change...
must be held by the reader. Ultimately, the book brings into focus
the important role of capacity building activities not only for
institutions but for individuals and their communities as
well."
"Explores the implentation of practices of knowledge, learning and
adapatation in the context of establishing a new Cambodian
nongovernmental organization - The Institute to Serve Facilitators
of Development - in the late 1990s. Discusses culture and context;
serving a sector; a learning journey; creativity and new dimensions
of response; and organizational nuts and bolts. Pearson is retired
as Founder and Director of VBNK."
"Jenny Pearson s story of a 'learning journey' echoes the essence
of modern capacity development thought. Her presentation of an
approach used by a local Cambodian NGO resonates powerfully within
leading donor bureaucracies as they confront the massive challenges
of context-specific development around the world. Jenny has worked
with the OECD over the last two years to promote an approach to
'training and beyond' which offers creative new directions for the
aid industry."
"Jenny's book fills a gap in the development literature between
technical treatises on management and novel-like accounts of
personal experiences. Her middle road is to create a readable yet
analytical account of how to deal with one of the most intractable
challenges in development -- building the capacity of an
organization to deliver cutting edge programs. I recommend the book
highly to anyone interested in practical lessons about how to
improve the effectiveness of small to medium-sized organizations in
developing countries."
"Ms. Pearson s experience described in the book is a rich testimony
and a good illustration of many challenges that capacity
development projects are still pursuing."
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