In every country in sub-Saharan Africa, there exist institutional frameworks or structures, which provide coordinating mechanisms for the development of skills and institutions for national development. Some of such frameworks articulate the capacity needs (skills and institutional requirements) of the public sector and help to manage the flow and use of technical assistance programs to meet identified capacity needs. In some countries, the Ministry of Finance and/or Planning or the National Planning Commission provides the framework. In some others, the responsibility lies with the Ministry of Manpower Planning and Development. And yet a few others have gone further to set up a full-fledged Ministry of Capacity Building. These institutional frameworks play a significant role in the process of identifying and articulating national capacity needs and also coordinating the capacity building process, including managing technical assistance programs for the development of capacity in the public sector. How effective are these institutional structures relative to the framework provided by the National Focal Points for Capacity Building (NFPs) that are being encouraged by the African Capacity Building Foundation? Are the NFPs relatively more or less effective as a framework for coordinating capacity building programs in a country? Which institutional framework should ACBF promote in what country? These are questions to which the Foundation seeks answers in order to re-evaluate the concept and institutional form of the NFP that it can effectively promote in the coordination of the capacity building process at the country level.