For the biological process related to reproduction, see
Capacitation.
Large-group capacitation is an
adult education and
social psychology concept associated with the Brazilian
sociologistClodomir Santos de Morais, and grounded in the "activity"[1][2] of the individual and the social psychology of the large group.[3][4][5] When applied to the context of the
Organization Workshop (OW), which, historically, has been used mainly for the purpose of job creation and income generation,[9] it is known as Metodología da Capacitação Massiva (MCM) in
Portuguese, Método de Capacitación Masiva (MCM)[10] in Spanish and as Large-Group Capacitation Method (LGCM)[3][5] in English.
Coinage
The English term capacitation is a translation of the
latino[11] terms
capacitação (Portuguese)/
capacitación (Spanish).[12][13]Capacitation marks the generic difference between
transitive[14] and
intransitive[15] modes of
learning and
communicating[16][17] implicit in de Morais' aphorism
se aprende, porém não se capacita (Portuguese) : "[The trainee] learns, but is not capacitated".[18][19]Capacitation, – from
capacitação (Portuguese) -,[20] here, is reminiscent of the adult education concept of
conscientization – from
conscientização (Portuguese) -, popularized by Brazilian theorist, activist and a lifelong friend of Clodomir's,
Paulo Freire.[21] While Freire's work was translated into English as early as 1970,[22]
de Morais'
Organization Workshop (OW) – and, hence, moraisean large-group capacitation (LGC) – did not come to the attention of the English-speaking public until the mid-80s, when the Chilean Social Psychologists I. & I. Labra moved to
Zimbabwe and transferred the method to the (southern) African context.[23] Latino texts were initially translated on an 'ad hoc' basis, including the 'dictionary' translation of
capacitación (Spanish) as
training (English).[24][25] Cherrett's 1992 first ever translation into English of de Morais' Apuntes de Teoría de la Organización,[26] also, was still referred to as a "Training" Manual.
It was not until the ALFA International Conference[27] in Manchester, UK, in 1998, attended by de Morais and academics from four European and four Latin American Universities,[28] that a consensus was reached on the dedicated terms Capacitation and Large Group Capacitation (LGC).[29]
Capacitation in community health, adult education and international development
Capacitation (outside the field of
biology) has been used previously, in English, mainly to emphasize educational content which differs from and/or transcends the basic meaning of the English one-size-fits-all
training.[30] In some sectors of
Community health, "capacitation" is said to be synonymous with empowering training.
Capacitation has also historically been used in the area of
adult education, starting with
Paulo Freire, who, in the seventies, uses the term "Technical Proficiency Capacitation" to refer to a (n adult) learning activity which can "never be reduced to the level of mere training".[31] In the eighties,
Capacitation is defined, by the
ILO, as: "availability of opportunities for people to build up their capacities to move from the status of object and passive victims of social processes to the status of subjects guided by self-consciousness and active agents of change".[32] The
UNRISD (Geneva) had started (in the seventies) to promote the term
capacitation as a "problem-solving, educational" alternative to the then prevalent but mainly pragmatic 'social amelioration' approaches to
International development.[33]Jan Nederveen Pieterse[34] contrasts "capacitation"/human development, as proposed by alternative or
autonomous (aka self-development) theorists – (such as e.g. Korten, 1990; Max-Neef, 1991; Rahman, 1993 and Carmen, 1996), – with "development-as -economic growth" theorists' for whom, according to Pieterse, capital accumulation is the ultimate Development objective. By the mid-nineties, any mention of capacitation had virtually disappeared from the
International Development scene, to be replaced by the
World-Bank-sponsored Capacity Building[35][36][37][38] discourse. Although de Morais worked for many years with a range of UN and International Agencies, his
"Activity"-based[39] pedagogy never became common currency there, possibly, as Sobrado suggests, because of, among others, its then presumed "Evil Empire" pedigree.[40][43]
The major theoretical influence, acknowledged by de Morais,[3][44] in the development of the LGC concept and method, is the work of
Aleksei N. Leontiev[49] specifically his concept of Objective(ized) Activity[50] which means that, in order to change the mind-set of individuals, we need to start with changes to their activity – and/or to the object that "suggests" their activity.[51]Objective(ized) Activity is at the core of what Labra has referred to as "another" tradition[52] of Social Psychology, namely the
Cultural-historical Activity Theory-based branch of Social Psychology,[53] which sets it apart from mainstream (behaviorist/
lewinian[54] Social Psychology of small groups.[55] The 'locus'[56] of activity-based LGC is the
Organization Workshop(OW),[57] a learning event where participants, applying
social division of labor principles,[58] master new organizational knowledge and skills through a
learning-by-doing approach. In OW-learning, the trainer's role is merely subsidiary (known as "
scaffolding" in
Activity Theory).[59] In other words, it is not the trainer/instructor who teaches, but "the object that teaches".[60][61] Moraisean capacitation, then..."involves several elements: mastery of a practical experience,[62] perhaps with some theoretical guidance but at least with some theoretical insight;[63] an element in which the object itself guides or influences the subject's understanding in the course of the activity;[64] a process of critical reflection on action and on motives of action.[66] Crucially, it always involves working with the whole and not a small part of the system".[67][68]
History of application
The insights that gave rise to what came to be known as the moraisean Large Group Capacitation Method (LGCM)[5] were an unanticipated consequence of a 30-day course, in 1954, for a large group [69] of the
Northeast Region, BrazilPeasant Leagues' middle-level leadership to study Brazilian
Agrarian reform law. The group met under clandestine conditions at a family home normally accommodating 7 people, in a heavily policed part of
Recife (Brazil).[70] Through the early 1960s de Morais staged workshops of an experimental character throughout the northeast of Brazil. After he was forced into exile following the 1964
coup d'état, he worked as
ILO Agrarian Reform Regional Advisor for Central America, and later under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (
FAO), he was able to launch a multitude of 'Experimental Laboratories' (later called Organization Workshops in the Southern Africa version of the method). From 1973 he applied the emerging method to peasants' capacitation within the
Agrarian reform Program of
Honduras:[74] over three years more than 200 workshops took place, with participation of more than 24000 peasants[75] and government officers from around the region. Over the years de Morais worked as consultant and/or director with the
UNDP,
FAO, and
Catholic Relief Services. Elsewhere the OW has been sponsored by
Hivos,
Norwegian People's Aid,
terre des hommes,
Concern Worldwide, Redd Barna and, recently e.g. in South Africa, the Seriti Institute,[76] Soul City Institute[77] and government departments such as South Africa's Department of Social Development. The OW, in a variety of local, regional and national applications, and in different formats,[78] has spread, over the years, to Costa Rica, Mexico, Panamá, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Brazil, the Caribbean, a number of African countries as well as Europe.[79]
Cultural-historical activity theory – theoretical framework which expresses relationships between human activities and the socio-cultural contexts in which they occurPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback (CHAT)
Zone of Proximal Development – Difference between what a learner can do without help and what they can do with helpPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Correia, Jacinta CB (2001). Comunicación y Capacitación en Empresas Autogestionarias surgidas de Laboratorios Organizacionales – Communication and Capacitation in the Selfmanaging Enterprises resulting from Organization Workshops (in Spanish). Mexico: PhD Thesis Chapingo University.
Correia, Jacinta CB (2007).
Learning with Africa: the Case of Mozambique(PDF). Goa (India): Presentation made in Jan 2006 at the 'African Diaspora in India 'TADIA' meeting. Archived from
the original(PDF) on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
Labra, Isabel; Labra, Ivan (2012).
The Organization Workshop Method(PDF). Seriti, S.A.: Integra Terra Network Editor. Archived from
the original(PDF) on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
de Morais, Clodomir; et al. (1976). El modelo hondureño de desarrollo agrario – The Honduran model of agrarian development (in Spanish). Tegucigalpa, Honduras: National Government Publication.
OCLC4324202.
de Morais, Clodomir Santos (1997). Elementos de teoria da Organização – Notes on Theory of Organization (in Portuguese). IATTERMUND – PRONAGER-AMAZÔNIA.
OCLC169927709.
de Morais, Clodomir Santos (1987a). Objective conditions and subjective factors (PhD thesis) (in Spanish). Rostock GDR.
OCLC75042725.
^The Spanish section of the tri-lingual
UNESCO 1979 "Adult Education Glossary" explains that the term
capacitación (Spanish) is usually followed by the adjectives vocational or technical, ie preparation for qualified employment – re:
"trabajo calificado" (Spanish) (p. 79).
^NB: the English verb
to capacitate means to make capable; to enable – from
capax (Latin) = capable. (As for "biological process related to reproduction", see:
Capacitation).
^That is, subject-to-subject transmission of knowledge, skills and communication(s).
Banking education (Freire) "in which the teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat" would be an example of such subject-to-subject transitive mode, in the field of education.
^That is, non-transitive, object-to-subject 'objective activity', i.e. where the object teaches or how adults learn, ie autonomously – see:
Andragogy and
Sobrado 2012, p. 50 "Andragogy forms the basis of the process".
^de Morais in:
Souza 2006 p. 6 (nb.
Portuguese original): "Professional training [models] generally transfer elements of theory well before practical elements are produced. The latter aborts the capacitation process: the trainee learns, but is not capacitated:
se aprende, porém não se capacita (Portuguese).
^de Morais 1987a, p. 136 (nb. Spanish original) "To prioritize elements of theory before introducing elements of practice, means that the capacitation process of those involved in the setting the "Organization Workshop Enterprise" is being frustrated: they learn but are not capacitated:
se aprende, pero no se capacita(Spanish).
^'Training' also happened to coincide with potential sponsors' Development glossaries, e.g. the
ILO's 1980s Persons with Lower Levels of Literacy (LLLs)
training modulesArchived 5 February 2015 at the
Wayback Machine.
^Etymology of
Training quote : "from the 14th Century Old French trahiner – to drag". (NB: which would be a clear indication of its
transitive pedigree of the English term).
^See comparative table – (between "Growth-led" and "Equity-led" Development – p. 354 in
Pieterse 1998.
^Eade 1997, p. 2: "No summit goes by without ritual calls for capacity building programmes"
^Andersson 2004, p. 168-9: "Much of southern development practitioners' capacity enhancing practice is in the transitive vein of providing training courses for on one or another identified "capacity need".
^(Capacity) "Building": "To build" means "to form by combining materials or parts". According to
Andersson 2004, p. 168. "Capacitation", – on the other hand -, "always involves working with the whole – (i.e. the entire process/activity at the same time) – and not with (a) small part(s) of the system".
^NB: A 2011 English language Critical Community Psychology textbook[41] does present moraisean Capacitation as one of four possible "strategies of action"[42]
^"Yrjö Engeström, Professor". Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research. University of Helsinki. Archived from
the original on 18 February 2014.
^"Mike Cole". The Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition.
^Objectivized Activity or
Actividad Objetivada (Spanish) and
Atividade Objetivada(Portuguese), from the original
Предметная деятельность(Russian) (predmetnaja-dejatelnost), or
Gegenständliche Tätigkeit(German), also known as Objective Activity, is explained in Chapter three of
Leontiev 1978, p. 50ss. According to the OW approach, the Objectivized Activity concept implies the recognition that, in order to change the mind-set of individuals, we need to start with changes to their activity – and/or to the object that "suggests" their activity. In the
Organization Workshop context, the real enterprise the participants are engaged in is that "object that teaches". From a pedagogical perspective the choice of "object" is crucial. To ensure that a social scale of activity was engendered, de Morais made the requirement that a common resource pool be put at the disposal of participants, which requires that production processes be regulated (co-ordinated), independently from the whims of various collaborators.
Andersson 2013 p. 6. ;
Carmen & Sobrado 2000, p. 63.
^Andersson 2013, p. 24 quoting
Vygotsky n.59 and
Andersson 2004 pp. 227–234: "
Zone of proximal development (ZPD) or the gap between what an individual learner, or group of learners, has already mastered without assistance (the actual level of development), and what they potentially can achieve with the guidance of an experienced assistant or peer".
^Sobrado in
Carmen & Sobrado 2000, p. 209: the traditional relationship between trainee and instructor ceases to apply.
^The fact that it is the "OW Object" itself that "teaches" does not preclude or exclude the provision of
professional training (in the trades, enterprises, services that the participants have chosen to engage in). How 'capacitation' and 'training' go hand in hand is clear, for example, from the diary of a
Resource personArchived 8 May 2014 at the
Wayback Machine (i.e.trainer) at the 1994 Munguine OW in Mozambique.
^see
de Morais 1979: The OW is "a practical exercise in the creation of a real enterprise".
^see the theoretical notions of e.g. "Zone of Proximal Development" (ZPD) and "Scaffolding" above.
^"Critical Balance" (CB), an integral part of the OW process, also known as
self-regulated learning in
adult education, ensures that day-to-day tasks always keep sight of long-term objectives.[65]
^"the whole" as compared to "combining materials or parts" (as e.g. in aforementioned "Capacity Building").
^50 to 60 persons, depending on sources. de Morais, then a lawyer and one of the Peasant League co-founders, attended as legal consultant.
^see:
Carmen & Sobrado 2000 Chapter 2 pp. 14–25 and
Andersson 2004 p. 130 quote: "this led de Morais to think about other practical exercises where a shared resource base, activity and the need for analytical thought would stimulate the formation of organizational activists".
^Morais, C.; Torres-Rivas, E.; Gomes, G. (1975). El modelo hondureño de desarrollo agrario. Programa de capacitacion campesina para la reforma agraria: Serie didáctica (in Spanish). Programa de Capacitación Campesina para la Reforma Agraria.
^Where he was consultant in charge of the
PROCCARA Program (Campesino Capacitation Program for Agrarian Reform), which was to become the blueprint for the "Honduran Model",[71] i.e. the application of the OW on a countrywide basis.[72][73]
^OW events are open to groups of minimum 40 and up to 1,000 and more participants, local conditions permitting. Childcare (and food) provision tend to be some of the primary foci around which the group gets organized. (Other sources speak of participants becoming
"organizationally literate".)
^Correia in
Carmen & Sobrado 2000, p. 199, and
Correia 2007, p. 6 explain the four types of Workshop: the Course OW, the Centre OW, the Enterprise OW, and the Field OW. The latter (Field OW) is the most commonly and frequently applied.