Center for Participatory Change
Capacity Building Program: from Mountain Views, Fall 2000
CPC’s Capacity Building Program helps people learn new skills by working on those skills, in a hands-on way, with coaching from CPC staff. This process of learning draws on people’s natural strengths, skills, and knowledge. In keeping with CPC’s belief in self-development, groups decide what skills and knowledge they want to learn, and they determine the pace of the capacity building process.
Our work with Family Resources of Cherokee County (FRCC) provides a good example of CPC’s capacity building work.
1) Defining needs and opportunities. CPC’s Paul Castelloe sat down with FRCC staff and talked about the organization’s needs and opportunities, how much time they wanted to spend on the process, etc. Lisa Twiggs of FRCC identified foundation research, grassroots fundraising, and strategic planning as key issues.
2) Planning. Paul and Lisa set a plan for addressing these key issues. The plan laid out the specific topics that CPC and FRCC would cover together, who would be involved in the work, and what the timeline would be.
3) Learning. Learning consists of gaining skills and knowledge, and building confidence, while creating positive change. With FRCC so far, this has taken the form of a series of hands-on trainings focused on learning where to find foundation grants. During one of these trainings, grantwriting emerged as a needed skill for FRCC’s Sheila Phillips. So Paul sat down at the computer with Sheila and coached her as she wrote a grant proposal for the first time. Afterwards, FRCC had a solid proposal to submit to foundations -- and an employee who felt proud and excited as she developed a new and important skill in an area that she had previously found intimidating.
4) Defining what changed. This is CPC’s program evaluation work, reflecting with our partners on what went well and what could be improved. We use that feedback to strengthen our programs, as a part of our own continual learning process.
Teaching and Learning with Adults
CPC’s capacity building work is based on a model of education designed for adult learning:
Learning must be rooted in experience. Every adult has had a lifetime of learning and experiences. CPC works to help people recognize the incredible wisdom that comes from those life experiences, and to build their community work upon that wisdom.
Learn by doing. The best way to strengthen existing skills, learn new skills, and develop confidence is to get to work on something important. CPC helps groups develop a plan for creating positive community change, then works hand-in-hand with them as they carry out that plan. It is through this process - doing important work - that learning occurs.
Everyone teaches / everyone learns. Everyone in a group has different skills and knowledge. So everyone has something to teach and something to learn - including CPC.
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