Strategy

The overall aim of FTA’s capacity development efforts is to continue to fill critical capacity gaps among research and development actors and their networks in order to reach development and sustainability objectives. This has been acknowledged by the CGIAR Independent Science and Partnership Council (ISPC).

For FTA, an R4D program, capacity development and high-impact strategic partnerships with development actors – globally, nationally, subnationally and locally – are instrumental in the program’s TOC and impact pathways. FTA operationalizes capacity development as a non-linear complex change process that occurs within and between individuals, organizations, institutions and their networks to strengthen the (collective) capabilities of its critical research and development partners for technical, institutional and policy innovations, as well as their uptake at various scales, toward impact.

However, FTA’s capacity development interventions form only a small part of the change processes in the complex innovation system. This system requires constant adaptation to internal and external contextual changes and hence a continuous change in capacities.