An Easy Guide to Capacity Assessment for National Human Rights Institutions 1. Introduction Capacity development (CD) is the process through which individuals, organisations and societies obtain, strengthen and maintain the capabilities to set and achieve their own development objectives over time. Supporting this process requires identifying what key capacities already exist and what additional capacities may be needed to reach these objectives. This is the purpose of a capacity assessment (CA). A CA provides a comprehensive perspective on the capacities critical to achieving development objectives. It is an analysis of required capacities against existing capacities and offers strategies and action to address capacity gaps. In 2008 the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF), the United Nations Development Programme Asia Pacific Regional Centre in Bangkok (now the Bangkok Regional Hub – UNDP BRH) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) National Institutions and Regional Mechanisms Section (NIRMS) began an initiative to strengthen national human rights institutions (NHRIs) through CA. That collaboration became known as the Capacity Assessment Partnership (CAP). Since 2008 in conjunction with APF the CAP has extended to other UNDP regional hubs, those in Amman (UNDP RHA) and more recently Istanbul (UNDP IRH). The CAs have also gone global, having been brought under the Tripartite Partnership of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), OHCHR and UNDP. In 2016 this partnership produced Global Principles for the Capacity Assessment of National Human Rights Institutions.1 Since 2008 the following CAs of Asia Pacific NHRIs have been undertaken: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1 Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) 2008–09 Human Rights Commission of the Maldives 2009 Jordan National Centre for Human Rights 2010 National Human Rights Commission of Thailand 2010 Palestinian Independent Human Rights Commission 2011 Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission 2011 Mongolian Human Rights Commission 2011 Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission 2012 Australian Human Rights Commission 2012 New Zealand Human Rights Commission 2012 Philippines Commission on Human Rights 2012 Nepal National Human Rights Commission 2013 Bangladesh National Human Rights Commission 2013 Ombudsman’s Office of Samoa 2014 National Human Rights Commission of Oman 2014 National Commission on Human Rights of Indonesia (Komnas HAM) 2014 Provedoria for Human Rights and Justice of Timor Leste 2015 National Institution for Human Rights of Bahrain 2017 Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) 2017 National Human Rights Commission of Pakistan 2018 Uzbekistan Ombudsman for Human Rights 2018 Philippines Commission on Human Rights 2018 National Human Rights Commission of Myanmar 2018 National Human Rights Commission of India 2018. Available at https://nhri.ohchr.org/EN/IHRS/tripartite/Joint%20Studies%20and%20Knowledge%20Products/GANHRI-UNDPOHCHR%20Global%20Principles%20for%20the%20Capacity%20Assessment%20of%20NHRIs.pdf. 3