Achieving successful project outcomes through capacity-building : a case example of international environmental policy and management

This paper focuses on the systemic challenge of 'capacity-building' as a means to achieve successful project outcomes. Focusing generally on the domain of environmental and natural resource management and policy, a brief review reflects the breadth of application of this term. A number of conceptual definitions are discussed, relating to processes of project and public administration, role within broader social transformations, dimensions of organisational capacity-building, and a recent Australian perspective regarding inter-relationships with institutional arrangements. A case example is described of the design features being utilised by the authors for international capacity building programs, including principles of action learning, transdisciplinarity and mentoring. A discussion of this case considers the target of these programs, Chinese technologists and managers, along with a reflection of transdisciplinarity as an emergent process, the role of meta-methodologies and frameworks of interpretation, and the role of Universities in their involvement in action research.