Capacity building refers to assistance that is provided to Members States which have a need to develop a certain skill or competence, or for general upgrading of performance ability in Human Resources for Health.
Capacity building is seen not only in the narrow sense of formal training sessions, but also as including many types of activities inherent in the functioning of the observatory. The HRH observatory can contribute to both institutional capacity and individual capacity-building for HRH through its activities. Capacity for data analysis, trend analysis, equity analysis, research and monitoring can be developed in countries as part of its work.
The observatory and the partner institutions can organize country-level and regional-level training programmes for different target groups, such as policy-makers, technical staff and academic staff. The subjects can range from policy issues such as macroeconomic and fiscal constraints, resource allocation and HRH policy development to technical issues, such as data analysis.
Because sustainability of these activities is considered crucial, strengthening national institutions and developing follow-up mechanisms for the formal training sessions can be emphasized. HRH expertise can be developed in the countries. A network of selected experts can facilitate the work of the observatory. The intention is to create a critical mass in the countries and the region to move the HRH agenda forward.
Subnational capacity can also be built on the principle of improving skills to not only collect data but also to use them for local decision-making, policy formulation, planning and implementation.