'People'S Knowledge' In Project Planning: The Limits And Social Conditions Of Participation In Planning Agricultural Development

For reasons of efficiency, equity and sustainability (among others) participatory approaches to planning are now accepted as necessary in public systems of rural development as well as among the NGOs who pioneered them. Yet, there are signcant social and institutional constraints to people's participation in planning, which this paper examines. The first issue concerns the relationship between local knowledge, for example that generated through PRA methods, and programme decision-making. The paper suggests that enhancing local people's role in knowledge production does not in itself remove obstacles to their role, or the influence of their perspectives, in programme planning. It shows that local knowledge production and use is determined by planning systems. These involve divergent agendas and negotiated compromises between local needs and project objectives and also have to meet wider organisational demands. The second issue concerns the difficulties of sustaining participation from the planning stage through into implementation to ensure long-term local commitment to project innovations. The paper points out the need to identify the social conditions for sustained participation within rural development projects. Two responses to the difficulties of participatory planning are described. The first is to build into projects the ability to analyse and interpret problems, needs and priorities as social constructs. The second is to identify appropriate social contexts (local groups) for planning and sustainability. Finally, the paper suggests some problems in the transfer of rigorous group-based participatory planning approaches between different institutional contexts.