Participatory planning

Participatory planning is a standard procedure in development co-operation, with instruments such as ZOPP being disseminated beyond technical assistance organisations. What are the specific issues when it comes to planning LED activities?

• LED involves a system of revolving planning. It is inadequate to conceptualize LED planning as a sequence of planning, implementation, finished. At the early stages, it is useful to identify LED activities which are easy to implement and have a quick and visible impact, even if they do not address the most important obstacles. Addressing the big obstacles is usually not easy, and it is likely to fail as local stakeholders are not yet experienced in LED. In the early stages, it is useful to prepare plans which extend over no more than three to six months and which are adjusted after this period. Over time, as stakeholders get more experienced, activities become more ambitious and planning becomes more complex, the plan period will slowly increase.
  

• It is not necessarily the case that planning has to involve the widest possible number of potential stakeholders. It is important to keep in mind that there is a tension between innovation and participation / consensus. At the early stages, many stakeholders will be skeptical. Trying to persuade them by a series of presentations of seminars is one option, albeit not a very promising one. The more promising option is that more innovative stakeholders go for LED activities. If they have a visible impact, it is likely that other stakeholders will become interested in being involved.
  

• What is the role of strategy? As LED is an iterative process which involves a lot of learning, it is not necessary useful to formulate an explicit strategy at the beginning, at least not in the sense of a huge document which tries to define a sequence of numerous, interrelated steps. It may be useful, though, to discuss a vision.

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