An Examination of Mentoring as a Mode of Capacity Building in Afghanistan: Evidence from a Policing Micro-System

Abstract

This article examines US funded efforts to build the capacity of the Afghan National Police through a field-based mentoring programme for officers in the area of intelligence management. Using data taken from interviews with 10 mentors from Northern Ireland, the study examined a particular mode of delivery in detail and also considered how evidence for future programme evaluation should be acquired. Mentoring took place in the context of operational police stations. The evidence collected is organized under three thematics - the mentoring role, conceiving success, and lesson learning. The study indicates that embedding mentors in operational microsystems can be an effective mode of delivering capacity building programmes and provides a source of rich learning material to be analysed for future programmes. The article argues for broadening future programme evaluation to capture the type of knowledge that can be generated through qualitative research conducted by an experienced practitioner in the field.