An Easy Guide to Capacity Assessment for National Human Rights Institutions 2. The capacity assessment approach for national human rights institutions The CA methodology for NHRIs offers a very useful approach to strengthening NHRIs and increasing their effectiveness in the promotion and protection of human rights. It provides NHRIs with a process of self-assessment assisted by external expert facilitators. It incorporates both qualitative and quantitative elements in assessing the current situation of the NHRI, identifying weaknesses, forecasting future capacity requirements and developing strategies to close the capacity gaps. It provides a comprehensive picture, from all perspectives, of the NHRI’s current capacities, its future required capacities and the strategies and actions proposed to meet the gap. Unlike many other forms of assessment the CA is participatory and inclusive. It seeks to involve everyone in an NHRI – leaders (commission members or ombudsman), senior managers and all staff, including lawyers, investigators, administrative and finance staff, secretaries, drivers, everyone. All perspectives on the NHRI’s capacity are sought and welcomed. In this way, unlike many other forms of assessment, the CA is able to reflect the full range of perspectives within the NHRI and to draw on the expertise of all the NHRI’s leaders and staff. A CA is not an evaluation – evaluation looks to the past. It is not a needs assessment – needs assessment looks merely to the present. A CA looks to the future: what skills and processes, or capacities, must the NHRI build if it is to be as effective as possible in the future? The CA process is not a research project on either the NHRC itself or the human rights situation in the NHRI’s country. It is a self-assessment based on the perspectives of leaders and staff of the NHRI. It does not follow up statements or seek corroborating or contradicting evidence or interrogate the NHRI leaders and staff to verify what they say. The process accepts, analyses and reports on the selfassessments given by the leaders and staff, including inconsistent views and opinions where they arise. It does not seek to evaluate or weigh evidence to form conclusions of its own. It does seek to reflect accurately what participants in the CA say in discussion groups and report in questionnaires so that it can propose a program for CD for the NHRI. Uniquely, the CA process is not an external exercise, undertaken by outsiders with no detailed, inside knowledge of the NHRI. It is a self-assessment, undertaken by the NHRI itself – the leaders, senior managers and all the staff – with the assistance and support of a team of CA facilitators. Because it is an internal self-assessment, the NHRI has full ownership over the process and the product. The CA report proposes strategies and actions to address the identified core capacity challenges and to strengthen the NHRI as a whole, including developing the capacities of individual staff and making the internal processes and procedures of the NHRI more efficient and more effective. It tries to identify strategies and actions that are within the current or reasonably obtainable resources of the NHRI. The CA complements the strategic planning, priority setting and work planning processes of the NHRI. It can be carried out in conjunction with the strategic planning process and is a valuable means of strengthening its implementation. The CA process also helps the NHRI review its organisational structure, operational functions and business processes as well as analysing stakeholder positions. In 2012 UNDP commissioned an independent external review of the CAP and the CA process. The review was strongly supported by the other CA partners, APF and OHCHR. The review report affirmed the value of CAs and the validity of the CA process. It found that many elements of the CA process itself, that is, the way it is done, are widely perceived as being of significant inherent value. 5