Capacity Building Essay

Introduction

According to WHO, 2017 capacity building is the development and strengthening of human and institutional resources. It is however a process that goes beyond only the public sector, whereas Janicke.M & Weidner. H, n.d, defines it as the society’s ability to identify and solve environmental problems. Furthermore Capacity building is the ability for a community and companies to grow and develop and nurture new skills. It is the ability to utilise the possibility for further growth, this allows for society to progress even further and be able to tackle any challenges along the way. The main participants for capacity building are the government, local members of the community, and NGO’s (Cadri, 2017). There are however certain obstacles

The people of African countries need to be educated about the environment and how to take care of it, nonetheless education can be an obstacle to capacity building if it is not made a priority. There are many higher educational institutions for young men and women to attend and gain new knowledge about the environment and make a career out of it. This is movement in the right direction for capacity building for sustainable management of natural resources. Education becomes an obstacle for capacity building when a larger part of a nations’ population is not educated and made aware of how to treat the environment. Many men and women can further their education on the environment by attending educational institutions but there are even more people who do not have the same opportunity (Janicke.M & Weidner. H, n.d). The people who do not have the same opportunities are oblivious as to what is happening to the environment around them and its natural resources, it is basic human nature to live of the land and those unaware of our environmental difficulties will just serve to increase it, reversing the effect of capacity building. With only a fraction of a nations populace thoroughly educated on environmental sustainability, capacity building will take a large amount of time to take full effect in the

M & Weidner. H, n.d states that a countries financial standing is the biggest factor in regards to capacity building for sustainable management of natural resources, it fuels any countries growth in every aspect. A country with a good financial footing will be able to implement capacity building plans for sustainable natural resource management and will be able to maintain and modify those plans as time goes on, this means that many new programs and initiatives can be implemented to help raise awareness of individuals in communities regarding environmental sustainability whether it be through the government or a private organisation. Furthermore Eade. D, 2005 asserts that the finances can become a huge obstacle for capacity building once there is not enough money to fund these plans to grow the skills on knowledge of the people. Spending money on capacity building is could become costly if not budgeted correctly. If there is no money there is almost no chance for capacity building for management of sustainable resources. Lack of government finances is an obstacle for capacity building for sustainable resource management and so is poverty within local communities all over the African continent. There are hundreds of thousands of people in Africa who live in poverty and this increases the strain on the environment. As the amount of people living in poverty increases the toll on the environment increases as well. People living in poverty depend on the land to survive,