The 4-country CBP project (2001-2004) was based on initial work Khanya did in 1999-2000 in Zambia, Zimbabwe and South African on the institutional implications of implementing the sustainable livelihoods approach. This pointed to the importance of linking communities with local governments, and that participation in planning could be one way of achieving this. The UK Department for International Development (DFID) were interested to support an action-research process around this. Khanya started with a limited number of partners in the 4 countries (South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Ghana) who were interested to see how to take decentralisation to community level.

Project activity included:

• In-country review processes of the status of community based planning (April-June 2001)
• Cross-country workshop in South Africa to share learnings (August 2001)
• Development of core methodology and manual (September 2001)
• Study tours to India (September 2001) and Bolivia (May 2002)
• Adaptation of manuals in each country
• Piloting in each country (September 2001-March 2002)
• Workshop to share learnings (July 2002)
• Implementation across the whole of 6 local government areas (October 2001+)
• Dissemination of findings in country and internationally (on-going)
• Proposals for changes to methods, systems and policies (October 2002)
• Final reports by country and across the 4 countries (November 2002)

Key outputs included:

• Learnings amongst partners workshopped and disseminated in-country;
• Implementation plans developed which reflect learning and are refined by comments from collaborating partners ;
• Funding proposals drawn up and submitted;
• Pilots run and methodology adapted in all 4 countries;
• Methodology applied in all of at least one local government area in each country;
• National policy adapted to incorporate CBP.

In addition, a core methodology and manual were developed, which has been adapted in the different countries. Successful pilots were run in all 4 countries which proceeded to full implementation in Bushenyi District in Uganda and Mangaung Local Municipality (around Bloemfontein) in South Africa, covering over 1.5 million people in total. 2 districts in each of Ghana and Zimbabwe were also covered, adding a further half a million people.
A national planning guide in Uganda has drawn extensively from the CBP methodology and work is starting on scaling up, and advocacy in the other 3 countries.

The project had limited resources for learning and sharing but with the commitment of partners to use their own resources and leverage others, the project has achieved an impact way beyond its original conception, particularly in South Africa and Uganda, with wide interest internationally.

The final technical report  entitled  "Making the Link between the Micro and Meso - Learning from experience on Community Based Planning and Management" is available here...

Originally piloted in South Africa in 2001-2, CBP was further tested across the country from 2003-5 in 8 areas: Nkonkobe (Eastern Cape0, Greater Tzaneen and BelaBela (Limpopo), eThekwini and Msunduzi (KwaZulu-Natal), Mangaung and Maluti-a-Phofung (Free State) and Mbombela (Mpumalanga). It represents the culmination of a wide range of expertise and experience across Africa.

"The Mangaung community-based planning process has had a marked impact on the development of new strategic priorities for the Municipality. It has also generated suggestions for new ways of achieving the priorities. It has provided a clear role for ward councilors and ward committees. Most importantly, it has shifted the focus away from communities waiting patiently (or impatiently) for government to deliver, towards a set of actions that communities themselves can participate in, in partnership with the Municipality and other stakeholders. As such, it creates a cooperative governance framework where citizens, councillors and officials take collective responsibility for development at the local level."