There are a number of important questions for research and practice on capacity for effective SEA concerning who to prioritise for capacity development in a world of limited resources, what capacities are needed to perform the various roles involved in SEA, and on the sequencing of capacity development support. One of the most immediate questions in the design of capacity development programmes is often whose capacity should be developed? This raises a series of further question about what type of and how much training is needed by different groups and where the boundaries should be drawn for SEA capacity development
Practically, capacity development programmes often focus on, firstly, in-depth training of national trainers and, secondly, more superficial training of a large cohort of national actors. This appears to be a reasonable approach to take, but there is limited empirical evidence on the benefits and limitations of different approaches. So how do we decide how to prioritise?