Participatory Planning

• Participatory planning in education can

be deduced from these views:
- an alleged trend towards more
participation in all realms of society.
- the need to transfer the principles
of political democracy into other
spheres of social life
- the nature of education which
necessitates planning for variance
coupled with the intrinsic educational
value of participatory involvement
- the critique of centralized planning
procedures which are said to be
inefficient, inequitable and
irrelevant.
 What is participatory
Planning?
• In its broadest sense, participatory planning means
distribution of decision making power in such a way that
all those affected by decisions should have a share in
making them. It is an area in which factual arguments,
power issues and subject value judgments are inextricably
united.
• Participatory planning
• In the context of community forestry projects, participatory planning
can be defined as joint actions of local people and project staff with
the objective of formulating development plans and selecting the
best available alternatives for their implementation. It should be a
two-way learning process of dialogue, negotiation and decision-
making between insiders and outsiders, concerning activities to be
undertaken by the insiders and supported by the outsiders. It is thus
conceptualized in terms of what can be called a "negotiating
dialogue" between local people and project staff, aimed at
conforming project support to local needs, constraints and
opportunities. Simply stated, participatory planning is an effort of the
parties involved to elaborate a common agenda for future
development actions. This agenda is not completely open: both
parties already have their own agendas, mandates and
responsibilities. The challenge is to identify and agree upon those
actions that fit in with both. Special methods and tools have been
developed that facilitate the identification and elaboration of
common agendas.