December 2008, Juan Carlos Alegre, David R. Marsh, Gail Snetro-Plewman, Judith Fullerton, Larry Dershem, Salim Sadrudding/ Save the Children
Community capacity (CC) is an evolving concept that encompasses the different strengths of community members to solve problems to improve the well-being of individuals and their communities. Save the Children USA (SC/US) builds CC in health, education, livelihood, HIV, and child protection programs implemented in the context of development, transition, and emergency response situations in 50 countries, serving more than 41 million children and 25 million adults1. Measuring community capacity is an emerging concept and is becoming a priority since different levels and types of capacities might predict better health and social change outcomes in different contexts. Yet measuring CC remains a challenge given the lack of field-tested frameworks, indicators, and methods.
