Recently in Tan Bac commune (Quang Binh district, Ha Giang province), CISDOMA has organized the training course Participatory planning for socio-economic development at local level as part of the Pilot model of community participation in planning of public facilities at local level project sponsored by World Bank in Vietnam.
Participants in the training included key officers of communes and communes’ villages. Its trainer was Tran Thap Long, MA, expert in community development education.
The course aimed at helping participants:
• Understand the role of the community in socio-economic planning at local level
• Understand the method of participatory planning in socio-economic development at village/commune level
• Apply attained knowledge and skills in specific tasks at local level.
The course used a variety of participatory methods such as focus group discussion, role-playing, fishbowl discussion, sampling, and visual tools through which the participants could acquire useful experience and thoroughly understand the lessons being taught.
The trainees were equipped with understandings of participatory planning and how to analyze the process. In addition, they had opportunities to put the theories provided into project planning and other activities at local level, and gained more insights into community mobilization and management of community participatory planning.
The most important outcome of the training was participants were able to gain enhanced skills in community mobilization. They understood the nature of participatory approaches and the methods to mobilize community participation in socio-economic planning at local level.
At the end of the course, all trainees felt satisfied with their learning and the teaching methods applied. They expressed their hope that more time would be allocated to future courses so that every participating officer could better integrate participatory planning into his or her work in general and in project activities in particular./.
Thu Hien, CISDOMA
