In contrast to the current discussion on Capacity Development (CD) which is mostly made from donors' aid-effectiveness point of view, this paper attempts to explore what foreign donors can learn about CD by tracing the endogenous and long-running CD process from insiders' perspectives. As a case study, an urban redevelopment project called MIB of the Medellin City of Colombia is examined. After clarifying the initial context of urban poverty in Colombia, the paper traces the six phases of the MIB project: institutional preparation and awareness enhancement, conception of the inclusive-urbanism idea, planning of the MIB, construction/reconstruction of the residences, resettlement of residents, and the scaling-up. Then the paper makes in-depth analysis of the whole process, focusing on five key CD factors identified by Hosono et al (2011): stakeholder ownership, mutual learning, specific drivers, scaling up, and roles of external actors. From the analysis, the paper draws four major lessons on CD research and practice in the future. First, we need to change our time frame by which we look at the CD process. The MIB experience shows that the process can be by far longer than what has been assumed to be by donors and researchers. Second, the current project-centered periodization of development assistance and the overwhelming focus on the project period should be reconsidered. In the MIB, the project implementation phase took only five years among the total process of 30 years. Third, the MIB case shows that documentation of previous projects and seminars which occur in the pre-project phase under donors' auspices can greatly help local specialists conceive new ideas. Fourth, the post-project phase also merits a greater attention to identify constraints to sustainability and replicability of the project concerned and to explore what external actors can do to overcome the constraints. The paper concludes by pointing out the necessity of accumulating the similar kind of case studies on the CD process made from insiders' perspectives.Keywords: Capacity Development, Urban Redevelopment, Social Urbanism, Medellin, Colombia. IntroductionThe concepts of Capacity Development (CD) have emerged as a central issue in recent debates on development. CD indicates a process by which people, organizations, and society as a whole unleash, strengthen, create, and maintain their capacity over time to manage their own affairs successfully (OECD-DAC 2006). Originated chiefly from the self-reflections by the donor community on why aids have not worked as expected, the CD concept has, overall, played an important role in deepening the understanding on how development actually takes place and how donors should behave in their effort to harness it. A broadly shared lesson from discussions on CD is that the capacity is by definition endogenous and consequently donors should catalyze but not try leading the development processes of recipient countries 1 . The main focus of CD discussion has now shifted to the operationalization of the...

The problem of poverty pockets in middle income countries has been identified as a major constraint for realising the Millennium Development Goals. There is an international need to develop programmes that alleviate poverty of identified populations without incurring their dependency on external aid. Aiming at developing such a programme, this article introduces the Japanese post-war Life Improvement Program and analyses the potential of its application to contemporary developing countries for poverty alleviation in a selfsufficient manner, intending to empower women. Issues such as gender relations, evaluating impacts, and linking practices to larger programmes and policies are also discussed.Le problème des poches de pauvreté dans les pays à revenu intermédiaire a été identifié comme une contrainte d'envergure pour la réalisation des Objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement. Il est nécessaire de mettre au point, au niveau international, des programmes d'atténuation de la pauvreté de populations identifiées sans engendrer leur dépendance vis-à-vis de l'aide externe. Cet article, dans le but de mettre au point un programme de ce type, introduit le Programme japonais d'amélioration des conditions de vie post-guerre (Japanese post-war Life Improvement Program) et analyse le potentiel de son application aux pays en développement actuels pour atténuer la pauvreté de manière autosuffisante, dans l'intention d'autonomiser les femmes. Les questions comme les relations entre les sexes, l'évaluation des impacts et l'association des pratiques à des programmes et politiques de plus grande envergure sont également traitées.La problemática atribuible a los focos de pobreza en los países de ingresos medios ha sido identificada como un obstáculo para lograr los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio. A nivel internacional, se ha expresado el deseo de implementar programas que reduzcan la pobreza de ciertas poblaciones sin que ello fomente su dependencia de la ayuda externa. Con el fin de promover la implementación de un programa en este sentido, el presente artículo analiza el Programa para el Mejoramiento de la Vida, surgido durante los años de la posguerra en Japón. Así, estudia la posibilidad de que sus preceptos puedan ser aplicados en países en desarrollo contemporáneos a fin de atenuar la pobreza de manera autosuficiente. En ese sentido, su objetivo se orienta a empoderar a las mujeres. Por otra parte, el artículo aborda temas como las relaciones de género, la evaluación de impactos y la vinculación de las prácticas llevadas a cabo con programas y políticas de más amplio alcance.

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