title: Defining community capacity building: is it possible?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Community capacity building has emerged as an important element in effective health promotion practice. The literature highlights many interpretations of community capacity building. Like other broad concepts such as community and social capital, the term 'community capacity building' is not easily captured. The context in which capacity is built is important and possibly contributes to the array of definitions.
  
  
  METHODS
  This paper reviews the definitions of community capacity building in health promotion beginning with early definitions in the 1990s to the latest offered by the WHO's Health Promotion Glossary in 2006.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The definitions have a common formula with three features: (1) community capacity building is a process/an approach; (2) capacity building is a collection of domains often referred to as characteristics, aspects, capabilities or dimensions; and (3) definitions incorporate an outcome or the rationale for building capacity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The commonality in definition challenges the idea that the term 'capacity building' is fraught with a plethora of meanings. The formula can be utilised by communities needing to define capacity building for their own purposes, in their own contexts.
authors.affiliation: WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention, Deakin University, Waterfront Campus, 1 Gheringhap Street, Geelong, Victoria 3217, Australia. bmwrulz@bigpond.com
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Simmons
authors.forename: Rebecca C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.forename: Boyd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Swinburn
mesh_terms: D057191:Capacity Building; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans