IIARD International Institute of Academic Research and Development

WORLD JOURNAL OF INNOVATION AND MODERN TECHNOLOGY (WJIMT )

E-ISSN 2504-4766
P-ISSN 2682-5910
VOL. 8. NO. 2 2024
DOI: 10.56201/wjimt.v8.no2.2024.pg13.30

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The Prospects of Participatory Planning and Development: Experiences from Bugwema Village Dwellers in Musoma Rural District Integrated Project Support (MRDIPS) in Tanzania

Benjamin Mbeba Meli, Hiacinter Burchard Rwechungura, Lucas Pastory Mwisila

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Abstract

This paper tries to examine the success or failure of Musoma Rural District Integrated Project Support (MRDIPS) which was initiated at Bugwema village in Musoma Rural District for the purpose of improving the well beings of the village dwellers by supporting them in all issues of participatory planning and development. It looks both at various strategies in rendering such support, the capacity building in local government authorities as well as all grassroots stakeholders in attaining participatory planning and development in the Bugwema village. The paper starts by exploring some of the issues used in participatory planning like the problem of stereotype of application of participatory tools, the problem in achieving true participatory planning and development, like to be able to reconcile the development agencies missions, their norms and values to the real actual situations and needs as well as the expectations of the targeted communities at Bugwema village dwellers. MRDIPS was one of the most important donor programmes which supported participatory planning and development in Musoma Rural District in Tanzania at the early of 1995’s, with conscious and clear mission towards participatory planning and development . However, the programme faced a lot of challenges associated with whole process of participatory planning and development experienced by almost every development agency or NGO, including the topdown approach of selecting programme design for suitable to the village dwellers of Bugwema and their activities; and creating dependency on local communities and capacity building problems. Furthermore, the paper tries to question whether participatory planning and development in Musoma rural District should always entail bottom-up approach of decisionmaking in order to bring positive results in terms of success and challenges, and on how to organize the programmes or projects such that community dependency can be avoided. The paper ends by the

keywords:

Development, participation, participatory planning, bottom-up approach, top-down approach.

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