Planning from Below. Marta Harnecker

on a map, a certain issue can become less abstract.

      271. Children have a lot to contribute to this. They frequently detect things that adults do not notice. Schools in the community could include children’s mapping into their curriculum. We should not forget that children are people with their own views and needs and that they have a right to be part of the process of shaping the reality they live in everyday and into the future.

9) INFORMATION AND TRANSPARENCY

      272. Lastly, but not less important, a successful planning process requires that residents have the means to monitor its progress, ensuring transparency at all moments.

      273. This means that all information relating to the process should be accessible to any interested citizen, during the development of plan as well as during its implementation. Debates in the different spaces should be public. Further below we will look at practical ways for achieving this.

      27. Information taken from Rosa Pinto & Tomás Villasante, Democracia participativa en Kerala, 71-73.

      28. See Marta Harnecker, Transfiriendo poder a la gente. Municipio Torres, Estado Lara Venezuela, (Caracas: Centro Internacional Miranda- Editorial Monte Ávila, 2008), paragraphs 165-166 & 199-212.

      29. Marta Harnecker, Gobiernos comunitarios, Municipio Libertador, Estado Carabobo, Venezuela, Colección: Haciendo camino al andar, Nº1, Monte Ávila, Venezuela, 2006, Capítulo II: Buscando el espacio adecuado, párrafos 18 al 37. Digital version available at: http://www.rebelion.org/docs/97077.pdf

      30. Marta Harnecker Transfiriendo poder a la gente. Municipio Torres, paragraphs 105-128.

      31. These are the same criteria that the nation uses for determining its budget, and that the Intergovernmental Fund for Decentralisation (FIDES) and the Law for Special Economic Allocations (LAEE) set out. They also put aside set amounts of funding for each parish, among them one that they called an emergency fund and another destined to science and technology and for the construction of schools.

      32. For example, the municipality of Torres, in the state of Lara, Libertador in the state of Carabobo.

      33. It is worth pointing out that the Law of Transference of Competencies, Services and Other Attributions to Popular Power (November 2014) has still not been implemented.

      34. They are available with English subtitles.

      35. This important observation was made to us by Carlos García Pleyán.

       CHAPTER V. PHASES IN THE PLANNING PROCESS

      274. In any participatory planning process, it is possible to distinguish two different phases:

      (a) Coming up with and developing the plan itself.

      (b) Implementing the plan and monitoring to ensure it is properly carried out, and evaluation of their results.

1. DEVELOPING THE PLAN

      275. Coming up with the plan is a complex process involving various steps (see diagram page 47):

      (1) Defining the desired changes

      (2) Setting out priorities

      (3) Exploring alternative courses of action for implementing the changes

      (4) Coming up with projects

      (5) Drafting the Development Plan, the Annual Investment Plan and the Budget, and at the community level the Immediate Action Plan.

STEPS IN THE PLANNING PROCESS