Organizing for Capability in Emerging Market Development

Organizing for Capability in Emerging Market DevelopmentSharon Kaitano [ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6017-2656]© Sharon Kaitano 2025. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 This article reframes a persistent blind spot in development discourse: the overemphasis on capacity and underinvestment in capability. Drawing from grounded case studies in Mozambique, Indonesia, Rwanda, and Kenya, Organizing for Capability in Emerging Market Development challenges technocratic assumptions that transformation follows investment. Instead, it argues that sustainable development hinges on how well actors organize around constraints, assets, and possibilities. With strategic insight, the paper distinguishes capacity (inputs) from capability (adaptive, coordinated use of inputs), positioning organizing as the active engine of transformation. It critiques the limitations of blueprint planning and proposes instead a logic of problem-driven iterative adaptation (PDIA), relational infrastructure, and MEAL systems as practical governance mechanisms not mere compliance checklists. By mapping how capability emerges when actors repurpose limited resources through coordination, trade-offs, and evidence-based iteration, the article offers a fresh lens for policymakers, funders, and institutional leaders seeking to move beyond surface reforms. In contexts where inputs abound but impact lags, this journal makes one core argument: organizing is not overhead, it is the capability.