capacity for change

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

an idiom describing the ability of an individual, organisation, community, or society to absorb new information, adapt existing practices, and transform its ways of operating in response to changing circumstances or deliberate reform efforts; in development discourse capacity for change is understood as a prerequisite for effective development, since technical assistance, financial resources, and policy reforms can only be translated into better outcomes if the institutions and communities receiving them have the human, organisational, and cultural capacities to use them effectively; the concept is related to but broader than capacity building — it encompasses not only the skills and knowledge that can be transferred through training but the motivational, relational, and cultural dimensions of an organisation's ability to learn and adapt; a society with high capacity for change is better able to respond to economic shocks, adopt new technologies, reform dysfunctional institutions, and redirect development trajectories when existing paths prove unsustainable