Capacity-building and diasporic civil society

Diasporic civil society stakeholders are increasingly incorporated into development programming in order to maximise the potential of their variegated roles in shaping development processes, outcomes, and trajectories. This viewpoint considers capacity-building in the context of diasporic civil society by providing an overview of the varying ways in which diasporic civil society capacity-building is operationalised within the “Northern” global development sector. We then proffer some notes of caution regarding this turn to capacity-building by discussing the implications of such interventions for wider development. We conclude that understanding the extent to which the capacity-building agenda further entrenches exclusionary practices and knowledges in diaspora-centred development approaches requires further research.