Planning Pre-Phases as an Instrument in Project Planning: experiences gained from the planning process in Indo-Swiss Project Orissa and Indo-Swiss Project Sikkim

This document suggests the uses of pre-phases as a participatory planning tool in development projects. Pre-phases can be used to enhance mutual understanding among project partners. Such understanding is a precondition for successful planning of relevant, need-based and area-specific project interventions. They can also serve as a framework to developing partnership. Characteristics include: a workshop-culture, joint planning exercises, continuous interaction and dialogue and decentralised decision-making. Potential drawbacks are also listed. The first part discusses the planning process in an animal husbandry project in Orissa (Chs. 3-4) and in Sikkim (Chs. 5-6). The second part provides a comparison of the two planning approaches. The potentials and risks of pre-phases as instruments in project planning are discussed in Ch. 8. Ch. 9 suggests areas for improvements.