Participatory planning by the book: lessons from the region of Mopti, Mali

This article describes the process by which Rural Councils in Mali, establish local development plans in a participatory manner in order to qualify for a grant from a government controlled capital development fund, l'Agence National d'Investissement des CollectivitÚs Territoriales (ANICT). The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) has taken responsibility for supporting the decentralization process in the Mopti region f Mali, and in 200 it established the Projet d'Appui aux Communes Rurales de Mopti (PACRP). This project provides funds to pay for the Rural Council members to receive training in how to design a local development plan in a participatory manner and thereby be eligible to a bid for funding from the ANICT. The article describes this participatory method for project planning the and discusses the problems encountered in its application to the formation of a development plan for the Council of Ondougou.