The capacity of communities to maximise the potential of development processes and inputs is often limited by the lack of education, their disempowered position and a lack of familiarity with participatory processes and decision-making. If this is the case, a key challenge to be met in the early stages of partnerships is the development of a strategy for addressing the weak capacity of the community (particularly the women) and the formulation of appropriate and contextually specific mechanisms for their involvement. A capacity building strategy should address both skills development and organisational capacity. Individual training must address a number of key areas: confidence building, literacy, legal literacy, micro-credit and, where appropriate, technical skills for service delivery. Poor men and women need skills to work in teams and to negotiate with operator/government representatives and other interest groups. Groups need management and accounting skills, and improved capacity to access information. In some cases the dynamics of a group and its leadership will also change and with that a shift in the way a neighbourhood prioritises service (or other) needs is likely to occur.
The development of appropriate, effective and meaningful community participation can be achieved through a process of capacity building and support. Experience suggests that it is essential to build capacity:
• within the community, to build understanding of the potential of community involvement and to create mechanisms through which the community can play an effective and meaningful role;
• within the partnership (based on an understanding of the potential role of the community and the mechanisms for establishing effective interfaces with the poor); and
• with those individuals and teams that work directly with poor communities.
In addition, evidence clearly points to the importance of creating effective organisations at the community level (and institutional arrangements at other levels) to structure community involvement. Group formation is dependent, inter alia, on existing organisations, existing capacities, gender relations and social dynamics. Various lessons stress the distinct possibility of the non-poor capturing the benefits when community groups are not representative or are dominated by the non-poor elite. Experience has shown that disaggregating the community into smaller groups (women's groups, user groups and other vulnerable people's groups) to initiate participation and build confidence at the outset can strengthen its ongoing capacity to participate and establish sustainable benefits.
In PPPs a key part of the development of participatory processes is the consideration of how the poor interact with partnership representatives. The private sector and government may both need significant support and a great deal of attitudinal change. Building capacity in implementing pro-poor, gender sensitive, participatory methods can be achieved through activities targeted at three levels: decision-makers, management and implementation staff.
In order to support the capacity building process, and underpin the partnership objectives and the efforts of those working with communities, supporting structures (be they NGOs or other forms of expert support) are often key aspects of the delivery process. The exact configuration of this support is dependent on the institutional assets of actors in any given situation.