Planning from Below: A Decentralized Participatory Planning Proposal

Description

In this book, Marta Harnecker, with Spanish economist José Bartolomé, shares some of her wisdom on how communities everywhere can gain empowerment. For, when impoverished people became involved in the planning process, they no longer feel like beggars demanding solutions from the state; they become the creators of their own destiny. Set out in two parts; this book first demonstrates the importance of community participants working outside a hierarchy, to allow as much decentralization as possible. The second part of the book centers on the methodology of this process: the various tasks taken on by participants and how, in planning processes over years, they are carried out. Table of Contents Foreword Preface Volume I. Theoretical Aspects Part I. Conceptual Aspects I. What We Mean by Decentralized Participatory Planning II. Venezuela and Kerala Experiences III. Levels of Planning and Type of Plans Iv. Necessary Conditions for Decentralised Participatory Planning V. Phases in the Planning Process Part II. Instances and Actors VI. General Considerations VII. Entities at the Higher Levels VIII. Entities and Actors at the Local Level IX. Other Entities Appendices Appendix I. Levels of Decentralization and Competencies Appendix II. System of Participation Flow Chart Appendix III. Proposal for How to Distribute Financial Resources to Territories Appendix IV. Timetable Appendix V. Consolidating Community Organization Volume II. Methodolgical Aspects Introduction I. Database II. Direct Knowledge of the Lay of the Land III. Formulating the Desired Changes and Transforming Them into a List of Aspirations (First Step) IV. Defining Priorities (Second Step) V. Methodology for Exploring Alternative Courses of Action (Third Step) VI. Projects VII. Establishing Budgetary and Sector-Based Priorities VIII. Prior Tasks to Be Carried Out by the Planning and Budget Teams IX. Formulating Plans X. Implementation, Oversight and Evaluation Appendix I. Examples of Forms and Tables for Collecting and Consolidating Information into a Database Appendix II. Some Motivating Questions to Formulate the Aspirations in a Community Appendix III. Form to Evaluate a Project