Capacity Rug Response Form
A short reflection on your capacity strengthening journey: what you gained, which capacity strengthening approaches produced those gains, and what stopped you putting them to use.
These details are optional. They are only used to label the PDF you download for your own records.
Understanding the Capacity Rug
The Capacity Rug is a reflective tool to help you map your learning experience. Think of it as a rug woven from your capacity strengthening journey: some parts are strong, some have gaps.
Key idea: a single patch (gain) can come from several threads (approaches) working together. That is what makes the rug interesting: we want to understand which threads produced which patches, and what holes appeared along the way.
| Rug element | What it means |
|---|---|
| Thread | A capacity strengthening (CS) approach you engaged with and participated in. The threads are the building blocks of your learning experience.
|
| Patch | A gain you actually got: a new skill, a shift in confidence, a relationship, or a change in how you think or work. Patches are woven from threads. |
| Hole | A barrier that blocked or limited your ability to use what you gained in real life: institutional constraints, political dynamics, lack of follow-up support, etc. |
| Background fabric | Your broader context: the institutional environment, social dynamics, and power structures that shaped your entire learning experience. |
Your Capacity Rug: mapping what you gained to how you gained it
For each gain you experienced, tell us: (1) what you gained, (2) which capacity strengthening approach or approaches contributed to it, and (3) whether anything blocked or limited you from using that gain in your work or life.
If a gain came from several approaches working together, list all of them. This is valuable information.
| # | What I gained (Patch) | Which capacity strengthening approach or approaches led to this? (Thread) | Was this gain blocked or limited when you tried to use it in real life? If yes, what got in the way? (Hole) |
|---|
Background fabric: your context
Overall reflection (optional)
Looking at your complete rug, the gains, the approaches that produced them, and the barriers, what stands out to you?
If you could change one thing about the capacity strengthening support you received, what would it be?
What was the single most important moment in your capacity strengthening journey?
About this tool
The Capacity Rug is a reflection tool developed by the CLARE Capacity Strengthening Hub, delivered by PlanAdapt with the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS). It helps learners look back at their own capacity strengthening journey: what they gained, which approaches produced those gains, and what limited their use. It is intended for anyone who has taken part in capacity strengthening under CLARE, and for the teams who design and deliver that support. It is openly available: responses are not collected, so it can also be used by others working on capacity strengthening.
About CLARE
CLARE is a flagship research programme on climate adaptation and resilience, funded mostly (about 90%) by UK Aid through the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and co-funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. CLARE is bridging critical gaps between science and action by championing Southern leadership to enable socially inclusive and sustainable action to build resilience to climate change and natural hazards. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the UK government, IDRC or its Board of Governors. Learn more about CLARE: www.clareprogramme.org