An Agency-Oriented Exploration of Capabilities: Reflections from the UNDP 2010 Brasil Ponto a Ponto Campaign

The capability approach is often referred to as an evaluative framework that aims to put ‘people at the centre of development’ and to see ‘people as agents of change’. At the same time, capabilities are often studied and reported with little engagement from ‘respondents’. Most of the operationalisation of the capability approach has been done through quantitative methodologies, with little space given to those individuals being researched to interact throughout the different stages of the research process (from design to dissemination). As researchers have prioritised scale and data coverage, little visibility has been given to those initiatives that have engaged with qualitative, ethnographic, or participatory methodologies to explore capabilities in a more open manner. This tension becomes of critical importance as the approach continues to be adopted, thus necessitating an examination of these various modes (both qualitative and quantitative) of investigating capabilities and the potential complementarities among them.