• Civil Society and Governance
  • Civil Society and Governance Overview
  • Institutional Capacity Building
  • Civic Education
  • Citizen Participation
  • Advocacy
  • Democratic Governance
  • Grants Solicitation and Management Capacity
  • Women's and Minority Rights
  • Disenfranchised Groups
• Education
  • Education Overview
  • Basic Education
  • Higher Education
  • Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
  • Education for Vulnerable Groups
• HIV/AIDS
  • HIV/AIDS Overview
  • HIV/AIDS Prevention
  • Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC)
  • Grants Solicitation and Management Capacity
  • Institutional Capacity Building
• International Exchanges
  • International Professional, Academic, and Cultural Exchanges Overview
  • Undergraduate and Graduate Academic Exchanges
  • Professional Exchanges
  • Youth Exchanges
• Capacity Development and Training
  • Capacity Development and Training Overview
  • Participant Training
  • Institutional Capacity Building
  • Undergraduate and Graduate Academic Exchanges
  • Grant Solicitation and Management Capacity
  • Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Civil Society and Governance

Institutional Capacity Building

Institutional capacity building is a key component of many World Learning initiatives. During the past few decades, World Learning has built the capacity of over 10,000 institutions world wide – including ministries, government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and universities – to strengthen their ability to serve their citizens, communities, and constituents. World Learning's institutional capacity building interventions have helped, for example, associations of People Living with HIV/AIDS in East Africa to manage donor funds and implement projects more effectively, government agencies in Georgia to improve management performance, and an Armenian NGO to successfully advocate for disability friendly features in new construction.

World Learning draws upon internationally tested approaches and tools including:

• Performance Management: World Learning uses a comprehensive performance management approach to analyze performance gaps within workgroups and institutions, and to provide targeted interventions to address those gaps. Often termed Human and Institutional Capacity Development (HICD), this approach addresses the complete performance environment of an organization and its performers. It is a process that focuses on the organizational and workplace environment, and recommends and implements interventions to improve organizational performance as well as individual performance. This approach develops sustainable capacity rather than focusing only on the capacity of individuals who may not be able to improve performance due to an inadequate environment.
  
  World Learning has developed a sound methodology over the past five years implementing HICD projects in Macedonia, Georgia, Kosovo, Croatia, and Cyprus. Through experience gained in these programs, World Learning has been able to fine-tune its approach, and to develop a blueprint framework, that allows for fast and cost efficient delivery of HICD projects that show sustainable results. The methodology is built on the principles of performance technology, a systematic approach to improving the performance of organizations and of the people working in those organizations.
  
  
• World Learning's Unique Assessment Tool: The Participatory Institutional Analysis Instrument (PIAI) has grown out of World Learning's extensive work with NGOs worldwide. The PIAI analyzes an organization's state of development in six major categories: Governance, Operations and Management Systems, Human Resources, Financial Resources, Service Delivery, and External Relations and Advocacy. Recently World Learning has developed two new modules analyzing Monitoring and Evaluation and Subgrant Administration. The PIAI works as a powerful diagnostic tool; by clearly indicating the gaps that exist, it can serve as a guide to what should be in place. Using the PIAI framework over time, users first establish baseline measures for later monitoring and evaluation – essential to show progress or trends over time.
  
  The PIAI is a flexible tool which can be adapted to different operating environments and the needs of specific organizations or projects. World Learning has used it successfully in Angola, Ethiopia, Haiti, Armenia, Romania, and several other countries. Using the learning from PIAI, World Learning has also developed tools to analyze the capacity of community based organizations and government institutions.