Towards horizontal capacity building: UNICEF Malawi’s C4D Learning Labs

This chapter provides a critical reflection of the Communication for Development (C4D) Learning Lab initiative in Malawi, which, organized by UNICEF and supported by the University of Malawi and other partners, aims to consolidate the capacity of C4D implementing partners. This discussion is not an impact assessment of the effectiveness of this facility, but rather an appraisal of how significantly capacity building is enhanced if it is organized as a process rather than as a single isolated event. A major lesson emerging from this analysis is that implementing partners do have existing capacities in various aspects of C4D. A top-down approach to capacitation will become too speculative and irrelevant. By involving the partners in organizing and delivering the C4D Learning Lab, UNICEF's participatory approach to capacity building becomes more of a learning process, and thus will go a long way towards meeting the learning and training needs of implementing partners and government departments.