Participation in and Impacts of Participatory Land Use Planning and Village Development Planning

This report aims to provide its readers with quick and easy access to the key findings and recommendations of the conducted study. It therefore focuses mainly on giving summaries and conclusions, and provides as little pre-analysis material as necessary within the report as such. All data summarized in tables and figures are provided in the annex. The report is structured along the research topics of the study: 1. Participation structures in PLUP and VDP 2. Impacts and benefits of PLUP and VDP 3. Methodology of PLUP and VDP Background. The study was conducted for two purposes: 1. To review activities supported by the German Government, implemented by GIZ as support to the Lao NUDP. The report reviews key indicators of the first phase of the German contribution. 2. To provide recommendations for the ongoing German contribution and the overall NUDP, and use these recommendations to further tailor activities to the actual needs of the target groups. Key questions behind this study were: Why does local participation matter? How and to what degree can District staff promote local participation? What are key issues behind lacking participation which the NUDP can address? Which benefits from PLUP and VDP can we observe so far? Did we do the right things – and did we do these things right - What do we learn for the future

Laos