Planning from Below. Marta Harnecker

      

      PLANNING FROM BELOW

      PLANNING from BELOW

      A Decentralized Participatory Planning Proposal

      VOLUMES I AND II

      Marta Harnecker and José Bartolomé

      with the collaboration of Noel López

      Translated by FEDERICO FUENTES

      MONTHLY REVIEW PRESS

       New York

      Copyright © 2019 by Marta Harnecker. All Rights Reserved

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from the publisher

      ISBN 978-1-58367-755-1 paperback

      ISBN 978-1-58367-756-8 cloth

      Originally published by Centro de Investigaciones “Memoria Popular Latinoamericana”

      Havana, Cuba, February 2018.

      Series: Socialismo del siglo XXI

      Sub-series: Planificando desde abajo No. 2

      Marta Harnecker and José Bartolomé

       Planning from Below: A guide for decentralized participatory planning

       Volumes I: Theoretical Aspects; Volume II: Methodological Aspects

      MONTHLY REVIEW PRESS, NEW YORK, NEW YORK

       monthlyreview.org

       TABLE OF CONTENTS

       VOLUME I. PLANNING FROM BELOW. A PROPOSAL OF DECENTRALIZED PARTICIPATORY PLANNING. THEORETICAL ASPECTS

      FOREWORD by Dr. T. M. Thomas Isaac

       PREFACE

       PART I. CONCEPTUAL ASPECTS

       CHAPTER I. WHAT WE MEAN BY DECENTRALIZED PARTICIPATORY PLANNING

       1) Seeking the greatest protagonism possible

       2) What we mean by planning

       3) Toward decentralized participatory planning

       a) The need for planning to be participatory

       b) The need for planning to be decentralized

       4) Achievements and weaknesses of participatory budgets

       5) Political importance of our proposal

       CHAPTER II. VENEZUELA AND KERALA EXPERIENCES

       1) The role of organized communities in Venezuela

       a) What do we mean by community?

       b) Unified plan that brings together all community initiatives

       c) Promote community supervision

       e) Ensuring an electoral result that reflects the will of the people

       e) The Community Assembly: the maximum authority

       f) Giving priority to actions over words and speeches

       g) How to ensure a large and broad attendance

       h) A team to help initiate the process

       i) Handing over financial resources to small projects

       j) Small public works that had a big impact in Santa Tecla, San Salvador

       k) If there is a shortage of resources, hold a community project-ideas competition

       2) The experience of decentralized participatory planning in Kerala

       a) Three levels of local rural self-government

       b) Transfer of resources and competencies

       c) From the rural village to meetings in smaller areas: wards and neighborhood areass

       d) Decentralization of important financial resources to the lower levels

       e) Principles that govern the process

       f) The contributions of the experiences of Kerala and Venezuela

       CHAPTER III. LEVELS OF PLANNING AND TYPE OF PLANS

       1. TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS AND LEVELS OF PLANNING

       1) Territorial distribution and corresponding levels of governments

       2. A PLAN FOR EACH LEVEL

       a) Development Plan

       b) Annual Investment Plans