 When it comes to capacity strengthening, the quality of policymaking in your member states depends critically on the skills, knowledge and experience of government personnel and researchers working in local research institutions and universities. We provide internships, we provide in-service training and we work on collaborative research studies. In Vietnam we work for many years with two key government institutions, CIM and ILSA, focused on designing, implementing and analysing survey data on rural households and enterprises. These institutions have now built up their professional capability and experience such that when a neighbouring country needs guidance they give these institutions a call. UNIWIDER has since 2001 hosted 267 interns and visiting scholars. Many of those have gone on to influential careers in the development area. The key lesson is that it is indeed possible to strengthen capacity but only if you are in it for the long haul.