Nepal Administrative Staff CollegePublic Service Training Department

Training Programme on Management Developmentfor Class III Officers of the Government of Nepal (PACT)

(February 09-March 18, 2015)

Module VI: Development Planning

Session on Planning Process I

Yuba Raj BhusalFebruary 25, 2015

Table of Contents1. Introduction2. Concept of Economic Growth3. The Planning Process4. Planned Development in Nepal5. The Role of National Planning

Commission6. Recent Trends in Development Planning

in Nepal7. Group Exercise

1. Introduction

1.1 Plan: deciding in advance what, how, when, who (and where) to do it! 1.2 Development: differs by discipline.1.3 Development Plans/Planning: “activity that involves decisions about ends as well as means & about conduct as well as result.” It is an organized, conscious and continual attempt to select the best available alternatives to achieve specified goals.

Introduction contd…

1.4 Types of Planning:• Level: International, Regional/sub-regional, Central,

Provincial, District, Village/ Municipal;• Location: Rural/urban, Remote/accessible;• Process: top-down, bottom-up; lateral;• Sector: Agricultural, Irrigation, physical infrastructures;

educational, forestry etc.;• Time: Perspective, rolling, periodic and annual;• Substantive model: physical, environmental, social, economic.• Instrumental model: Regulatory, allocative, development and

indicative=private Sector development;• Contextual model: comprehensive, social, advocacy,

bureaucratic, radial and non-planning.

1.5 Concept of Balanced Development: Geographic region and social development (reducing inter/intra regional development disparities- rural/urban; among the social groups- sex, ethnicity, language, culture/ religion etc.).

1.6 What happens if no Plans?– Social unrest– Civil war– Lopsided development.

2. Concept of Economic Growth2.1 Overview of socio-economic development• Hunting and gathering: egalitarian society;• Agrarian era: – inequality was pervasive in the agrarian

economies; – the economy of humans in the years before 1200

turns out to be just the natural economy of all animal species, with the same kinds of factors determining the living conditions of animals and humans.

– Average life expectancy was 30-35 years.

• Industrial revolution (1200-1860):Rapid economic growth fueled by increasing production efficiency made by advances in knowledge. Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) issued a ruling that her people should always wear a knitted cap. It paved the way for inventing a 'stocking frame' in 1589 for mass production. Printing press, industries, railways etc facilitated for it.Demographic transition, a decline in fertility, which started with the upper classes and gradually encompassed all of society. • Marxist economic proposition 1848;• Socialist Planning in the Soviet Union 1928;• Great depression of 1930s, New Deal, Marshal Plan and

aftermath of the second World War;• Keynesian Economics 1940s;• However, the growing wealth has not brought happiness.

• In Japan, for example, from 1958 to 2004 income per person rose nearly seven fold, while self-reported happiness, instead of rising, declined modestly. • It is evident that our happiness depends not on our absolute well-being but instead on how we are doing relative to our reference group. • Each individual—by acquiring more income, by buying a larger house, by driving a more elegant car—can make herself happier, but happier only at the expense of those with less income, meaner housing, and junkier cars. • Money does buy happiness, but that happiness is transferred from someone else, not added to the common pool.

• Welfare economics of 1950s;• W.W. Rostow’s stages of Economic growth (traditional

society, pre-take off, the take off, the drive to maturity, maturity, mass consumption);

• Growth pole concept 1955 (F. Perroux);• Agro-politan development 1975 (J. Friedman );• Integrated Rural Development Planning 1970s;• WID, WAD, GAD 1980s;• Basic Needs 1970s;• Sustainable development 1990s;• Poverty Reduction 2000s;• Inclusion (Geographical and Socio-cultural) 2010s;• LDC Graduation 2010s.

Source: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Economic_History#mediaviewer/File:Societal_development.png

Growth of Human Civilization

3. The Planning Process3.1 Situation Analysis/ the Diagnosis phase

a) Regional Profile Analysis: Regional Profile Analysis (Taking the Stock), Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA);

b) Problem Analysis: Problem tree, Problem Matrix.c) Stakeholders Analysis: persons, groups, organizations

/institutions vis a vis their characteristics, interests, motives, attitudes and implications to the planning.

d) Potential and Constraints Analysis: natural, human, financial, infrastructures, institutional, technological and other resources and their quality, quantity, location, availability and constraints to their utilization.

An assessment to be made to derive these potentials.

3.2 Planning/ programing phase:a) Goal and Objectives Setting: Conceive a

desirable scenario/ vision; set goal and objectives; develop strategies; determine development principles; look for the alternative course of action; and forecast resources.

b) Policy Statement: Needs, philosophy, sectoral and spatial action areas.

c) Program Formulation: Logframe providing a one page summary of problems, goal, objectives, programs, activities, indicators, budget, time-frame, responsibilities, risks and assumptions.

3.3 Implementation Designa) Implementation Planning: • who to do what, when, where, how and why!• Coordinating the process- planners, beneficiaries,

executing agencies, experts, resources and interest groups;

• Critical Path Method: Identification, specification and refinement of activities and determining their sequences, estimating time and identifying the critical activities and delineation of the critical path.

• Gantt Chart: Plan of Operations including the Annual Work Plans for progress reporting.

b) The Implementation Process:• Budget allocation• Annual program budgeting• Priority setting• Action Plan• Business plan• Procurement plan• Monitoring Plan• Output, outcome with activity and indicators

3.4 Management of Implementationa) Monitoring:

• Process, Inputs, Output/Outcomes; • Multiple Monitors; • Bases of monitoring; • Monitoring techniques.

b) Evaluation: • Output, Outcome, Impact; • Criteria.

c) Re-planning: Based on the feedback.

4. Planned Development in Nepal:4.1 Context of Nepal with regard to its

Geography: Biophysical diversitySociety: Population and its dynamicsEconomy: LivelihoodsPolitics: The driving force

4.2 Need of Development Planning and its role in socio-economic transformation,

4.3 Planned Development and the major achievements realized.

4.4.1 Rana period: • Juddha Sumsher’s 20 years (perspective) Plan;

Industrial Council 1992 to promote agriculture, industry, commerce and the mines;

• Padma Sumsher’s Perspective Plan (15 years) Formulation Committee 2005 BS;

4.4.2 Tribhuvan Gram Vikas Program 2008;4.4.3 Government Budget 2008 BS as an instrument of public accountability;

4.4.4 Administration Reorganization Planning Commission (ARPC): • Nepal embarked in planned development since

1956;• NPC with different names to date; • King Mahendra proclaimed (1955) the necessity

of a five-year plan to attain national self-sufficiency and establishing a welfare state;

• Consecutive Plans were in line with the global paradigms;

• Consecutive Plans in line with international development paradigms.

5. The Role of National Planning Commission (NPC)

5.1 Composition: National Development Council (NDC) and NPC: 12 Members5.2 Roles and Responsibilities: • Advice the GON• Perspective Plans• Periodic Plans• Annual Plans• Coordination• Monitoring and Evaluation• Program approval/amendments etc.

6. Recent Trends in Development Planning in Nepal• Graduating Nepal from the Least Developed Country

(LDC) category,• Securing balanced development across the region and

social groups,• Gross Domestic Production (GDP) Analysis by

Districts,• Emphasis on Statistics in making evidence-based

policy decisions,• Practicing good governance across the sectors

including public service delivery,• Food security and nutrition,• Reducing poverty and securing prosperity.

7. Group Exercize

• A Case of a VDC for Planning.