Training Unit's Approach to Capacity Development

Endogenous Regional Development (EnRD)

MDGs call for a significant re-orientation from input or sectoral development to human development, emphasizing the pro-poor and environmentally sustainable approach for development. The importance of promoting decentralization and people's participation in such an approach is also recognized in the MDGs. As a response toward this orientation, the UNCRD Training Unit introduces "Endogenous Regional Development (EnRD)" as one of its participatory multi-sectoral regional development approaches in training projects. EnRD at UNCRD implies a process of development promoted by the initiative of local people using local resources based on local culture, traditions, and skills. Through the process of EnRD, the local people themselves, while listening to others' opinions and receiving the necessary support from outside, commit themselves to the planning and management of projects based on their social capital. This fosters community ownership of projects, and finally leads to the de facto empowerment of the community. Once the local people are empowered as an equal partner in government, governance can have the participation of both the citizens and government. This is called "engaged governance," which serves as a driving force for capacity development of the community as a whole. The theory and case study of the EnRD approach has already been incorporated into the current curriculum of the International Training Course in Regional Development and theme-specific training courses on EnRD have also been launched.

UNCRD regards capacity-building as a process of enhancing developing countries' capacity in solving problems based on their wisdom, resources, policies, institutions, and social system as well as their own initiatives. Capacity is not only about skills and knowledge; it is also about initiatives and governance. The traditional technical transfer-type of capacity-building alone cannot enhance such capacity; therefore, capacity development in an endogenous way has been carefully pursued by the Training Unit, in particular, by effectively combining its training courses conducted in Japan together with its follow-up projects/seminars in developing countries.

Taking advantage of the fact that it is being conducted in Japan, the ITC and other training courses:

• Introduce Japan's experiences of regional development, which are highly evaluated as having achieved well-balanced development with minimal disparities;
• Provide participants with direct contact opportunities with government officials, community leaders/members, and private firms during the training, which enables participants to heighten their motivation and be personally exposed to their "wisdom," "enthusiasm," and "experiences" of making continuous efforts to create modern-day Japan; and
• Motivate participants to take actions as leaders and/or trainers to further promote capacity development at the regional level in their countries.

• Further enhance the capacities of the participants' organizations and relevant stakeholders to solve problems based on their wisdom, resources, policies, institutions, and social system as well as their own initiatives.