KIT Royal Tropical Institute — through a five-year framework contract — has provided support to document experiences and lessons learned from Belgium Development Agency (BTC, now known as ENABEL) capitalisation projects and programmes worldwide. Our support contributed to individual and organisational learning at BTC and its partners. It also increased the visibility of BTC projects and lends further credibility to the organisation as a whole.

Customised methods for bilateral programmes

KIT facilitated documentation of experiences and lessons from BTC bilateral programmes in the following sectors: Health, Governance, Education, Agriculture and Rural Development, and Infrastructure.

Each capitalisation project used a unique mix of qualitative and participatory methods such as:

• data collection by KIT and/or  local practitioners
• distance coaching by KIT experts
• supporting local practitioners in data analysis
• writing workshops and trainings, and
• expert meetings.

Experiences from 28 projects in 12 countries, Algeria, Benin, Burundi, Mali, Morocco, Niger, DRC, Rwanda, Senegal, Palestinian Territories, Uganda, Vietnam, have been documented, mainly covering agriculture, health and infrastructure. Each process has lead to a number of different communication outputs — i.e. books, reports, case studies, policy briefs, etc. In the end more than 80 capitalisation -communication products were developed, for example the Vers une gestion inclusive des ouvrages hydro-agricoles report. These were developed to ensure the appropriate level of analysis and documentation and targeted dissemination. For example, a series of 12 policy briefs on local governance in Burundi has been developed. Another appreciated publication is a comparative analysis of urban development projects in Uganda and Vietnam.