Lessons Learned about Capacity Building

Upfront technical assistance is critical

Provide upfront technical assistance to regional staff to ensure that they understand what sector initiatives really are and the knowledge and skills necessary to be effective. “We thought we had done quite a bit of upfront training and technical assistance, but once we provided grants to the regions, we realized that we should have done more ‘spade work’ in the regions. I cannot stress enough how important this upfront work is.”

Embed sector strategies into agency strategic plans

One way to build the capacity of state partners is to work with them to integrate sector strategies into their agency strategic plans. As partners are grappling with sector strategy concepts and the relevancy for their agency, they will gain important knowledge about the “why, what and how” of sector strategies.

Frame the right questions for the regions

It is not enough to ask regions: “What are your technical assistance needs?” One state official recalled, “They don’t know what they don’t know. They didn’t know what the questions were.” Part of capacity building to regions is to help them frame categories of questions about funding, partner engagement, goals and benchmarks, timelines, etc.

Start with defining an effective project

States can make the training and technical assistance more effective by starting with a definition of an effective project. What does an effective and successful project really look like?

Use training as a catalyst to get people thinking regionally and cooperatively

“One of the most important purposes of training institutes or academies is to help regions begin thinking and acting regionally. Once they gain that regional focus, the best thing states can do is to stay out of their way.”