Andrea Ferrannini

Opportunity Gap Analysis: Procedures and Methods for Applying the Capability Approach in Development Initiatives

Abstract This article explores the importance of and value added by applying the capability approach to strategize, design, monitor or evaluate development initiatives, by operationalizing this agency-oriented (participatory) and opportunity-based perspective and by widening standard methods to deal with new informational spaces. In the first part of the paper a dynamic analytical framework on capabilities expansion/reduction processes—which places at the central stage the opportunity gaps between valuable community functionings and individual capability sets—is presented. These gaps represent the policy area where tailored and appropriate place-specific and people-centred development initiatives can entail the maximum expansion of real freedoms. Then, on the basis of this framework, the paper presents an original participatory methodology—the “O-Gap Analysis”—which can complement standard methods to provide systematized assessments of capabilities within communities to inform policy actions. An empirical case study is also discussed, analysing the application of this methodological procedure regarding a community-based rehabilitation project in Uganda. Applying the capability approach policy interventions cannot be necessarily unique for all individuals or social groups experiencing opportunity gaps for what they have reason to value, as different barriers or mix of barriers and conversion factors, values, desires and aspiration call for tailored people-centred development initiatives.

Local Communities and Capability Evolution: The Core of Human Development Processes

Abstract The capability approach has the power to examine how different societal arrangements can be pivotal for the fulfilment and/or deprivations of individual human capabilities and human development [Sen, A. K. 1999. Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press]. However, little analysis has been so far devoted to the centrality of the local community for human capabilities, which constitutes the most proximate socio-institutional setting that most directly shapes individual and collective well-being. In order to reflect about the relations between community and capabilities, this paper embraces a geographical definition of community (complementary—not superior—to other conceptualizations) with a twofold scope. Firstly, it aims at filling the theoretical vacuum presenting an extension of the STEHD framework (Sustainable Territorial Evolution for Human Development) introduced by Biggeri and Ferrannini [2014a. Sustainable Human Development: A New Territorial and People-centred Perspective. New York: Palgrave Macmillan], which links the individual, collective and local community dynamics affecting human capabilities. Secondly, it aims at showing how this framework can help to examine the different processes in place at the community level, by applying to the case study of a Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) programme implemented in Mandya and Ramanagaram Districts (Karnataka State, India). The paper is structured into five sections. After the introduction, the second section introduces the STEHD framework and reveals its potential to frame the local community dynamics. In the third section, the case study is introduced and the main results in terms of human development outcomes are discussed. In the fourth section, the dynamic processes of individual, collective and community change fostered by the CBR programme are analysed by applying the STEHD framework. The last section concludes.

Enabling Factors for Local Economic Development: Local and Regional Development Agencies

Throughout the book, a clear emphasis has been placed on the importance of the mechanisms of local “conscious governance” to effectively achieve valuable territorial functionings and spur dynamic SHD processes. Moving from general arguments and assumptions to empirical analyses can contribute to making this perspective operational and can provide trans-territorial evidence of these processes.

The Sustainable Territorial Evolution for Human Development (STEHD) Framework

Sustainable Human Development (SHD) at the local level, being a place-based and people-centred approach (as described in Chapter 1), entails complex and dynamic processes, which cannot be easily framed within static, sectoral or mono-dimensional analytical frameworks. The creation and enhancement of territorial enabling and disabling factors for SHD and iterative processes of systemic change involve the continuous interaction of different elements through non-linear feedback loops. The territorial character of these processes does not prevent the identification of general rules or mechanisms along the trajectories of capability expansion (or reduction) and local SHD. This underlines the importance of having a consistent and flexible framework capable of providing tailored and relevant analytical accounts and guiding policy strategies.

International Development Cooperation at the Local Level: The UNDP ART Global Initiative

International cooperation programs and initiatives can play a significant operational role in promoting strategies for SHD at the local level (UNDP, 2012). In order to deliver tangible results, the whole system of international aid — including at local and territorial levels — requires innovative practices and mechanisms of ownership, alignment, harmonization, management of results and accountability.1 As we have seen, the evolution of the development paradigm (see Chapter 1) implies the emergence of urgent issues (such as poverty, the environment, peace and security, health, employment and civil rights) linking territorial communities to the global level (Sassen, 2007). Consequently, traditional aid delivery processes (World Bank, 1998) based on project and supply-driven approaches are challenged (Mosley et al., 1991). In reality, the potential for international cooperation initiatives to expand opportunities to flourish depends on a range of institutions, goods and services that are localized in territorial societies.

Sustainable Human Development (SHD) at the Local Level

In recent years, conceptualizations such as “local development systems”, “valorisation of endogenous potential”, “embedded local knowledge”, “local public goods” and “place-based policy approaches” have been renewed in the academic literature. This has largely been due to contributions in economic geography — for example, the evolutionary approach (Arthur, 1994; Boschma and Martin, 2007; Boschma and Frenken, 2011), the focus on the urban and regional economy (Amin and Thrift, 1992; Storper, 1997) and the relational perspective (Bathelt and Gluckler, 2003) — as well as the literatures concerning industrial districts (Scott, 1988; Becattini et al., 1990), Innovative Milieux (Camagni, 1991) and Regional Innovation Systems (Cooke, 2001). These theoretical and empirical arguments attribute increasing importance to the meso-economic level, where close relationships between “economy-institutions-society” take place (Hirschman, 1958; Cappellin and Garofoli, 1988; Becattini, 1989; Amin, 1999), and the institutional, geographical, historical and cultural characteristics of a territory shape development processes.

Final Remarks and Future Perspectives for SHD at the Local Level

In order to contribute to future development thinking and visions, this book has tried to advance a people-centred and place-based development perspective, based on the integration of Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach (CA) with the literature on local development and evolutionary thinking. This book has discussed a tentative attempt to combine the concept of human development (creating the enabling conditions for people to enjoy the freedoms they value and to flourish) with increasing awareness of the importance of the territorial sphere (in terms of socio-economic infrastructure, interactions and collective mobilization, social norms and values, institutional and learning behaviour, etc.) within transformation processes.

The Role of Multilevel Governance for SHD at the Local Level

Although this book has so far placed the central emphasis on territories and their features (endowments, barriers, institutions, capacities), nowadays local systems and territorial societies cannot be viewed as isolated or self-sufficient in promoting growth or fostering SHD. Local development does not depend exclusively on local efforts (Sforzi, 2005), and multilevel complexity and governance cannot be ignored.1

A “Policy-Enabling Space” for SHD at the Local Level

Affirming that a Sustainable Human Development (SHD) perspective provides the coordinates for understanding the economic and social evolution of local development systems entails a fundamental policy question: are development policies able to address locally determined conversion factors, in order to foster processes of SHD evolution and change?