International workshop on participatory planning approaches for local governance, Bandung, Indonesia, 20-27 January 2002 [workshop report]

This workshop report is a source of case study material and group discussions by practitioners of participatory planning (PP) for local governance (LG) from around the world, useful to practitioners and students of PP. The first section is an overview of approaches to PP and a framework for analysing power dynamics in PP, followed by participant questions and debate. Participants from Bolivia, South Africa and Indonesia gave presentations on their experiences of PP in LG, which provide interesting comparative material on the legal and institutional contexts and the operational, cultural and attitudinal challenges. Further input on the Indonesia experience comes later in the report in the write-up of the field visits organised for this workshop by the Indonesian Partnership for Local Governance Initiatives. Participants identified key cross-cutting themes and issues: changing habits to make PP happen (attitude and behaviour), Citizen participation in PP (who participates?), Frameworks for PP (laws, regulations), Resource mobilisation and organisation for local plans, Skills and capacity for PP (both in LG and communities), and Power relations in PP. Finally, discussions focused on sustainability and innovation in PP, and the spread, scale and quality of these processes. Feedback is tabled under 'dangers' and 'actions'. The report has several annexes with lists of participants, activities, case write-ups and evaluations.