Abstract

Capacity building to promote sustainable development is proving to be a formidable challenge. This paper builds on the experiences of two case studies from the remote, regional, cross-cultural context of Northern Australia. It identifies power, empowerment, participation and leadership as important aspects of capacity building for fostering sustainable development. The paper concludes by suggesting that capacity building for sustainable development must be reconceptualised and involve more than training people to engage in better participatory approaches for implementing development policies and programs.