We are

About

Social development is about addressing persistent challenges like poverty reduction, education, healthcare, economic and social disparities, gender equality, and human rights. Through policy reforms and innovation, social development aims to transform social structures and create sustainable change that benefits individuals, communities, and societies.

Capability is committed to forging a global alliance of development experts and organizations, united by a shared vision of eradicating social development challenges through transformative methodologies.

We co-develop context-specific solutions grounded in local understanding with local organizations to support development organizations across diverse sectors, including democratic governance and decentralisation transformations, community development, education, climate change adaptation, rural development, and evidence-informed policy systems. 

These solutions apply systems thinking, problem-driven political economy analysis, and developmental evaluation to help organisations address complex social challenges and implement adaptive initiatives that prioritise the most vulnerable.

Our offerings include

Research and analysis

We partner with local organisations to facilitate and conduct applied political economy analysis. This includes identifying and mapping locally-nominated problems, understanding stakeholder interests and incentives, and assessing how power dynamics influence policy outcomes. These insights help us design with our partners initiatives that are sensitive to the political environment and adapted to the local context.

Change strategies

We facilitate the co-design of programme  strategies that integrate problem-driven iterative adaptation. This collaborative approach helps generate theories of change and portfolios of actions aiming to shift governance systems so that they provide public services and livelihood support to the most vulnerables.

MEL and strategic learning

We partner with local organizations to design and implement tailored monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) systems, collaborating as strategic learning partners throughout their programs. We combines developmental evaluation principles with sensemaking and group facilitation. By prioritising strategic learning, our MEL systems track progress and provide evidence and insights to guide programme adaptation and improve results.

Our work

WHAT WE ARE DOING

As part of the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team of the BRAC Ultra Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI), we manage the Strategic Learning component. UPGI operates in seven countries—Rwanda, South Africa, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and the Philippines—focusing on government-led extreme poverty reduction through the Graduation approach. Our contributions include designing  and updating the adaptive MEL system of the programme, facilitating strategic discussions with country teams to address challenges in poverty governance using systems thinking and sensemaking, documenting and harvesting outcomes, and supporting strategic decision-making to adapt strategies, approaches, and work plans.

 
Client: BRAC International | Funder: Ted Foundation Audacious Project | Duration: 01/2022- To Date
 

WHAT WE ARE DOING

I collaborated with Cecilia Luttrell on a comprehensive capitalisation (Capex) of lessons learned from the Mekong Region Land Governance (MRLG) programme, which aims to improve land tenure security for smallholder farmers across Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Over its three phases of implementation, MRLG has utilized innovative approaches, such as fostering multi-stakeholder alliances and adapting strategies to complex political contexts. My role included providing insights into how MRLG’s interventions influenced policy processes, addressed tenure insecurity, adopted and adapted the principles for adaptive development, and supported sustainable reforms. The review aimed to identify critical factors behind MRLG’s successes and challenges, offering lessons for similar programmes globally.


Client: Land Equity International | Funder: Swiss Development Cooperation| Duration: 05/2024 – 03/2025

WHAT WE ARE DOING

We led the review and design of MEL (Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning) processes for the Global Risks and Resilience (GRR) programme at ODI Global. Our work focused on developing tailored systems and processes that enable the team to systematically document and capture their contributions to policy changes and their influence on risk and resilience policy systems globally. This approach ensures the GRR team can effectively track progress, adapt strategies, and demonstrate their impact in addressing complex, systemic challenges across diverse contexts.

 

Client: ODI Global | Funder: ODI Global | Duration: 08/2024

WHAT WE ARE DOING
As Strategic Learning Expert, we contributed to discussions organized by the Strategic Learning and Evaluation (SLE) team at Fondàtion Botnar, providing expert advice, ideas, and feedback on advancing strategic learning for the foundation. We have contributed to conceptualize a learning support structure that could strengthen learning networks and enhance intra- and inter-organizational learning at the Foundation.
 

Client: Fondàtion Botnar | Duration: 10/2024-02/2025

Full list of projects

About us

We established Capability in 2018 with a vision of forging an international alliance of development experts and organisations united by a shared commitment to eradicating social development challenges through adaptive development and  policy innovations that effectively address locally identified problems.

Arnaldo Pellini

Arnaldo is an experienced  researcher and development practitioner with over two decades of experience in the international development sector. His expertise lies working alongside teams in problem-driven political economy analysis, designing change strategies, and co-designing MEL systems for adaptive management. He has lived and worked for extended periods in Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

Arnaldo holds an MPhil in Economic Development from the University of Glasgow and a PhD in Education from the University of Tampere (Finland). His extensive portfolio of publications across academic articles, book chapters, working papers, research briefs, blog posts, and opinion pieces underscores his commitment to promoting evidence-based policy and practice.

Languages spoken: Italian, English, Spanish, and German.

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Katja Pellini

Katia is a founding partner of Capability. She is an ecologist, international development cooperation practitioner and entrepreneur with fifteen ears of experience in environmental governance and policy. She has worked and lived in Nepal, Cambodia, Viet Nam, the Philippines and Indonesia. She is currently working with Plan International Finland and advising their programme strategy and practice for climate change adaptation. Katja is a life-long learner pursuing a Ma degree in degrowth and is also involved in the warm data international community of practice. 

Languages spoken: Finnish, English.

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Associates

Antonio Godoy Pellini

IT Specialist 

Paris, France

Our partners

Pakistan

SDPI-200

SDPI is a non-profit research organisation based in Islamabad (Pakistan) founded in 1992. The institute conducts research on various issues related to sustainable development, including climate change, water resources, agriculture, health, education, and poverty alleviation. It also provides technical assistance and advisory services to governments, NGOs, and other organisations working in these areas.

Indonesia

Based in Indonesia, the Dala Institute is dedicated to elucidating and identifying durable solutions to contemporary issues at the nexus between nature and society. Dala consists of a team of highly experienced researchers and consultants who understand that
environmental and societal challenges are inseparable. Its core services are social science research, performance and impact evaluations, and technical assistance.

Nepal

FDM is a consulting  company based in Kathmandu (Nepal). Over its past two decades it has conducted a number of assignments pertaining to research, monitoring and evaluation, capacity building, and institutional development on various social development issues and for a range of international organisations.

Canada

Using Evidence is a research and evaluation consultancy founded by Fred Carden that focuses on development and research evaluation. Using Evidence is concerned not only with high quality research, but in exploring ways to enhance the use of results.

Our clients