This paper is an attempt to define a set of fundamentals around which generic measures can be developed to assess performance levels of interventions in capacity building. It notes that most measures are derived with respect to inputs, processes, outputs and impacts and that there is an inordinate preoccupation with impact in the measurement of performance. Starting off with the input-process-output-impact framework, the paper presents an approach, which examines measures from the point of view of the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, ownership, impact and sustainability of an intervention. It argues that impact measure on its own is meaningless in the assessment of the success of a capacity building intervention until, for instance, the issue of the ownership of the skills and institutions that generate the impact and the sustainability of such impact has been addressed.