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Capacity building encompasses many different approaches and visions. WEMC's vision of capacity building is two-fold. It is about the shared acquisition of new skills and knowledge to enable partners and women in local communities to achieve their defined goals within the WEMC framework. Equally, it is about facilitating individual and organizational learning processes through the reflective analysis of lessons drawn from experience.
   
  The transfer of knowledge through capacity building ensures the long-term sustainability of the change agenda embodied in WEMC research.

 
 
WEMC capacity building processes are based on four premises:
1.
There is a wealth of indigenous knowledge, lessons and insights about women's empowerment among women at the grassroots and women's organisations on the ground that needs to be made visible.
2.
Learning is an interactive process between the provider and the receiver of new knowledge and skills. It is more than the transfer of information and competencies. It also requires a mutual reflection of values and attitudes.
3.
Capacity building enables women to work for their own empowerment to benefit themselves, individually and collectively.
4.
Capacity building is not a stand-alone, one-off activity. It is a core area of the WEMC Programme that is integrated with research and communication, undertaken at all research sites.
WEMC capacity building methods involve the following:
1.
A systematic assessment of needs for the training and capacity building of WEMC personnel, partners and women in local communities
2.
The identification of skills and expertise of WEMC partners and associates as the basis of a mutual mentoring process
3.
The training of trainers to ensure that new capacities are transferred using empowering, coherent and sustainable methods
4.
Transforming recommendations drawn from the periodic evaluation of the WEMC programme into lessons for capacity building
5.
Independent feedback by end-users and peers, including allied organisations, on WEMC-inspired discourses, analyses and best practices
 
   
  WEMC will systematically promote integrated capacity building processes, such as institutional
co-mentoring, exchange visits to sites, internships, fellowships, and academic visits.		  
Some areas that have been identified as needs for new or enhanced skills by
WEMC partners and women's groups are the following:
 
  • Data collection, management and analysis
  • The use of appropriate communications tools for diverse stakeholders and audiences
  • Effective engagement in dialogic advocacy at local, national and global levels
  • Application of lessons and new knowledge in multiple contexts
 
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