Capacity Building and Localization: Insights From Liberia

ABSTRACT The question of how to structure international aid equitably to empower the local community and give agency to local civil society organizations (CSOs) is a recurrent theme in debates around international aid. A common strategy to enable local actors to have greater agency in the international aid system is for international donors to invest in the capacity of local CSOs through targeted capacity‐building programs. Donors incorporate capacity‐building programs into their programs, believing that increased capacity will empower and enable local actors. Scholarship on capacity building, however, has shown that capacity‐building programs are often implemented top‐down and align with the priorities and objectives of Western donors. Through the case of Liberia, this study examines the motivations and objectives of capacity‐building programs from the perspective of local CSOs. Through mapping current capacity‐building programs in Liberia and conducting focus groups with local CSO leaders, we offer empirical evidence that the capacity‐building programs available to Liberian CSOs do not meet their needs, as expressed by local CSO leaders. We contribute to the ongoing debates around capacity building by showing that the disconnect between available programs and motivations of local CSOs calls for a need for localizing capacity building for such programs to maintain the promise of the localization agenda.