06_Capabilities assessment and Critical Thinking

Capabilities assessment

Before starting any organization/business, take some time to check what capabilities are already in place, that will help you in you endeavour.

By this we mean:

• Your own skills and competences
• Skills and competences of relevant people (people that want to support you, partners or employees, etc)
• Existing equipment and technologies
• Relationships with local community, clients/beneficiaries

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking skills

The skills that we need in order to be able to think critically are varied and include observation, analysis, interpretation, reflection, evaluation, inference, explanation, problem solving, and decision making.

Specifically we need to be able to:

• Think about a topic or issue in an objective and critical way.
• Identify the different arguments there are in relation to a particular issue.
• Evaluate a point of view to determine how strong or valid it is.
• Recognize any weaknesses or negative points that there are in the evidence or argument.
• Notice what implications there might be behind a statement or argument.
• Provide structured reasoning and support for an argument that we wish to make.

Someone with critical thinking skills can:

• Understand the links between ideas.
• Determine the importance and relevance of arguments and ideas.
• Recognize, build and appraise arguments.
• Identify inconsistencies and errors in reasoning.
• Approach problems in a consistent and systematic way.
• Reflect on the justification of their own assumptions, beliefs and values.
• Find out more about critical thinking skills here: https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/critical-thinking.html