Without internal capacities, countries will be unable to maximize the benefits of investment, and to ensure growth with equity, and may remain dependent upon continued injections of development assistance. Capacity in this sense is usually defined as the ability of individuals, institutions and countries to make good decisions about development and to implement those decisions in an effective and efficient manner. Capacity building refers to the efforts of people to improve their effectiveness. This is a process through which inefficiencies in the way countries operate are identified, and the changes that are needed to improve performance are carried out. Capacity building is the sum of efforts needed to develop, enhance and utilize the skills of people and institutions to follow a path of sustainable development.
Poverty reduction is as urgent a priority as capacity building for African countries.
According to current projections, Africa will account for 32 per cent of the world's poor by the end of this century, and it is the only continent on which poverty is expected to rise during the next century. Its strategy for fighting poverty is to empower civil society, address historical discrimination against women, improve the poor's access to basic services, promote employment and equality of opportunity and protect the environment. Alleviating the symptoms of poverty but not curing them.