Participatory Planning &

Development
- Harish Chandra Singh Thakuri
Under-Secretary, GoN
Updated: 2025/02/02
 Understanding/Meaning
• Participatory planning is an inclusive approach of
planning in which all the stakeholders are involved in
the strategic and managerial process of planning.
• It is democratic process in which the stakeholders of
development are involved in identification of need,
plan formulation, implementation, monitoring &
evaluation, and distribution of dividends of
development plan as well.
• It encourages bottom-up planning and promotes
discussion and dialogue among stakeholders, and
accommodates different ideas, knowledge and
diverse experiences of stakeholders.
• It fosters leadership development at local level. It has
been recognized as one of the main pillars of good
governance.
 Cont…
• The principle of public participation holds that those
who are affected by a decision have a right to be
involved in the decision making process.
• It is a process to accommodate the voices of the
marginalized and disadvantaged groups.
• It is a part of the decentralization process.
• Participation is necessary for fostering sustainable
development.
• It aims to identify the critical problems, joint
priorities, and adopt the socio-economic
development strategy.
• The main bases for participatory planning and
development are: public access in decision making,
access to information and access to justice.
 Characteristics of Participatory Planning
• Decentralized and democratic process.
• Dialogue-based (promoting discussions on various issues)
process.
• Integral part of planning, and considers the whole picture.
• Assigns responsibilities and social commitments to the
stakeholders in meaningful manner.
• Recognizes diversity and respects differences.
• Recognizes social actors as active subjects in their own
development.
• Based on concrete knowledge and specific conditions of
local area.
• Encourages bottom-up planning and builds relationships of
confidence.
• Promotes social mobilization and leadership development
at local level.
 Why Participatory Planning?
• To democratize development process and activities.
• To establish public legitimacy of development
works.
• To carry out development activities as per the need
and expectation of public.
• To promote public ownership and involvement in
development.
• To ensure transparency and citizen-centric
development.
• To develop conducive environment for development
activities.
 Cont…
• To promote trust and harmony between public and
government.
• To promote social mobilization and leadership
development at local level.
• To ensure equitable distribution of dividends of
development.
• To promote public awareness and accountability
towards society.
• To ensure value for money and sustainability in
development.
 Advantages of Participatory Planning
• It ensures credibility in all segments of the community as it is
planned by a group representing all segments of the
community.
• It encourages and addresses diverse voices, needs and
experiences.
• It involves all the stakeholders of development from the
beginning of the process, and thus, their cooperation is
assured in every stage.
• People’s participation helps increase transparency and
accountability, and reduces corruption in public activities.
• It helps to impart knowledge and skills in local people. It also
plays an important role in skill and technology transfer.
• It can bring together and establish ties among community
members which contribute to social cohesion and harmony.
 Cont…
• There is respect to everyone in the community due to
the use of this approach.
• It promotes collaboration, inclusiveness and
empowerment.
• It yields high productivity, generates better quality, and
fosters new ideas and solutions.
• Participatory planning helps to reduce dependency on
others.
• It helps to avoid conflicts in planning, and achieve local
support.
• It enhances transparency in the financial transactions
and effective utilization of public fund.
• It promotes ownership and commitment of
stakeholders towards the development.
 Disadvantages of Participatory Planning
• Participatory planning is not free from limitations. However,
its merits outweigh demerits. Some of its apparent demerits
are:
• It is time-consuming process. It takes longer time to come
up with decision.
• There may be conflicts and disagreements among the
people of the community on need identification.
• It is difficult to convince each and every member of the
community.
• It may be difficult to assure that all people are involved.
Some key people may simply not want to participate.
• It requires patience and commitment from everyone
involved.
• “Group Think” may happen that retards creativity and
innovative ideas.
Pre-requisites for successful participatory planning
• Stakeholders' involvement in defining objectives,
rules and planning activities.
• Organizational structures that fosters stakeholders'
involvement in the management.
• Supportive policy framework.
• Well-informed participant.
• Decentralization and democratic environment.
• Respect for the process and the decisions that are
reached.
• Two-way communication process.
• Sound work culture and organization culture.
• Commitment from everyone involved.
• Reward and recognition system.
 Actors in participatory planning & development

• Political parties
• Administration
• Private sector
• Local authorities
• Civil society
• NGOs, CBOs, local clubs
• Pressure and interest groups
• General public
 Methods of Participation
i) Direct Participation:-
• Through direct involvement of public or stakeholders
in planning, implementation and M & E of
development plan.
• Meaningful or active participation of stakeholders.
ii) Indirect Participation:-
• Providing suggestion, advocating, showing concern in
plan formulation.
• Preparing conducive environment, moral support for
plan implementation.
• Developing social awareness for development.
• Symbolic or passive participation of stakeholders.
 Areas of participatory development

• Social development
• Economic development
• Political development
• Community development
• Human resource development
• Institutional development
• Environment conservation
• Social entrepreneurship development
 Participatory planning and development in Nepal
Policy and legal provisions:
• The Constitution of Nepal: Constitution of Nepal has
assured and directed for citizens’ participation in
development in directive principles and policies of the
State. Similarly, Article 232 mandates for participatory
governance of the federal units embracing principle of 3Cs.
• Periodic plans of the Government of Nepal: Periodic plans
including the 16th Plan emphasized the participation of
people in development planning.
• Local Government Operation Act, 2074: Provisions the
direct involvement of local people in the problem
identification, planning, implementation, monitoring, as
well as benefit sharing.
• Public Private Partnership Policy, 2072
• Public Private Partnership and Investment Act, 2075
 Institutional mechanisms
• Federal system with three tiers of government working
together embracing the principle of cooperation,
coordination and co-existence mandated by the
Constitution of Nepal.
• Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration.
• Various ministries and departments working in their
respective domains.
• Sub-national governments including 7 provincial
governments and 753 local governments in the federal set-
up.
• Various co-operatives and micro-finance groups formed at
local level.
• Public, private and cooperatives sector as three pillars of
national economy.
• Civil society, NGOs, INGOs, CBOs, local clubs, community
groups, etc.
 Programmed Efforts
• Integrated action plans
• Land pooling projects
• Afforestation and environment conservation
programs
• Community forest program
• Public-Private partnership programs
• Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction
(CMDRR)
• Construction works carried out by users
committee in villages and municipalities, and the
like.
Thank You

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