A CASE-STUDY IN DEVELOPMENT-PLANNING USING A SYSTEMS LEARNING APPROACH - GENERATING A MASTER-PLAN FOR THE LIVESTOCK SECTOR IN NEPAL

Criticism of linear, top-down approaches to development planning based on compartmentalised, target-driven thinking is widespread. Developin g a plan for the development of the livestock sector in Nepal was an o pportunity to use a participative and systemic approach based on exper iential learning and soft systems methodology as an alternative. The e xperience is described and the planning outcomes summarised. The maste r plan emphasizes people-centred development initiatives that link liv estock development to the social, economic and environmental context i n Nepal. Reflections on the experience highlight (a) the effectiveness of the initial systems-learning workshops in achieving local particip ation; (b) the usefulness of soft systems techniques in guiding the tr ansformation of the shared vision that emerged into a concept to guide future development; (c) the difficulty of achieving and maintaining l ocal participation and the effect of not doing so, (d) the adequacy of the methodology in addressing social power issues; (e) the need to me sh changes at the institutional and field levels. The authors conclude it is unlikely that sufficient momentum was generated to achieve the major shift in institutional strategy the master plan calls for and th ey discuss participative action research as a strategy for achieving t he necessary continuity and iteration, mediated by critical reflection , between planning and action.