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1 Rural Development DivisionFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)An approach to rural development:PPAARRTTIICCIIPPAATTOORRYY aannddNNEEGGOOTTIIAATTEEDDTTEERRRRIITTOO RRIIAALLDDEEVVEELLOOPPMMEENNTT((PPNNTTDD ))April 2005 PNTD Methodological Approach2 PrefaceThe emergence of territoriality in the current discussion on rural development is not fortuitous. It isthe product of economic and social changes within countries and in the wider political context ofglobalization. It responds to the need to adapt methodologies, instruments and activities to the newrequirements imposed by these changes and their undesired impacts.

2 Finally, it promotes a differentimage of territorial issues and directly involves rural populations in the design of new define the territories they live in or interact with. The actors territoriality, or territorialvision, helps to establish a common identity and supports the realization of actors strategies andprojects. In addition, a plurality of actors with different and sometimes conflicting interests andvalues influence the dynamics and interrelationships within the same following document is a product of the continuous research of a common denominator ofexperiences, elaborated and implemented by SDA officers.

3 The document proposed here takes upthese preoccupations and aims to link the work done in this regard within the FAO RuralDevelopment Division (SDA). Both Services of the Division, the Land Tenure Service (SDAA) andthe Rural Institutions and Participation Service (SDAR), have worked on the complementaryaspects of a territorial approach for the development of rural recent years, a number of SDAA and SDAR officers have analyzed the existing relationshipsbetween local actors and their territories and the implications of these relationships on localdevelopment. The output of this first effort to conceptually frame the idea of territorial developmentresulted in the Methodological orientations for a participatory and negotiated territorial approach.

4 These reflections focus mainly on the territorial diagnostic process as a means to promote socialdialogue within a territory and which leads towards a negotiation table for rural was growing in SDA that this approach could help the Services to complement eachother in their respective work. Consequently, various interviews with SDA officers were conductedwith the aim of highlighting commonalities in the approaches developed in the Division throughfield experiences, and supporting and complementing the key principles put forward in the Methodological orientations for a participatory and negotiated territorial approach.

5 At the beginning, in collaboration with representatives of NGOs, the International Land Coalition(ILC), experts and university professors from various countries, a workshop was held in Venezuela(April 2001) to share experiences and to study more deeply the issues related to territoriality andactor-based approach and decentralised institutions and participatory territorial planning . Thisdocument also received valuable inputs from the workshops discussions held in Colombia and inHungary in parallel, similar discussions have started with several other services at FAO.

6 Firstly, within theSustainable Development Department, the Extension, Education and Communication Service(SDRE) and Environment and Natural Resources Service (SDRN) which have contributed to thereflections related to information and communication issues. Secondly, the mainstreaming ofintegrating all actors in the participation of the development has shown that the Gender andPopulation Division, SDW, is also considering the gender-sensitive in local planning , especiallyduring a workshop held in Thailand in 2000. The gender-specific limitations stemming fromapplying information generated from participatory processes and gender gap issues stemming frominvolving women in participatory local planning should be examined by planners at the provincialand district levels, to streamline the planning process with local Methodological Approach3In evolving towards more sustainable production systems, agriculture and rural development,efforts should ensure the attainment of three essential goals.

7 Food security by ensuring an appropriate and sustainable balance between self-sufficiencyand self-reliance; Employment and income generation in rural areas, particularly to eradicate poverty; Natural resources conservation and environmental sustainability of every human activity is closely connected to the impact of their exploitation ofrenewable resources, losses in eco-system services etc.) The most intensive causes of socioecological conflicts or crises are related to an unsustainable management of agricultural this sense, the Globally Important Ingenuous Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS)

8 Initiative,with its efforts to promote local/indigenous agricultural systems and raise awareness of theirimportance for biodiversity conservation and food security as well as their contribution to natural,landscape and cultural heritage, will have as one of its core challenge to develop methodologieswhich allows for the conservation of the heritage characteristics of agricultural systems, whileallowing for their evolution and adaptation to changing socio-economic and environmentalcontexts, and, more importantly, the sustainable development and livelihood security of but not least, the chapters which follow are elaborated on the synergies and cross-cutting issuesof rural development and other specific abilities of different FAO services.

9 This only illustrates thepossibilities of improving the efforts of those working in rural development but without replacingthe individual specificities and main area of technical Methodological Approach4 Table of contentsPreface_____ 2 Table of contents _____ 4I. Rationale and Use _____ 71 Failure of top-down approaches and the rise of bottom-up concepts_____ 72 Current challenges in addressing rural development issues _____ 7 Decentralization and disengagement of the state cause a lack of public service provision_____ 8 Diversity of actors and their projects may cause inefficiencies in local resource use and management _____ 8 Interdependencies within and between territories cause difficulties in defining their limits _____ 83 Innovation added values of the proposed approach _____ 9 Building credibility between

10 Public and private actors _____ 9 Strengthening social cohesion to improve local resource use and management _____ 9 Conceiving the territory as an arena for dialogue and negotiation_____ 94 Objectives and target audience of the document _____ 10II. The process_____ 111 The purpose of the PNTD approach _____ 112 Basic characteristics of the process _____ 123 Phases and key issues describing the process _____ 12 Views _____ 12 Horizons_____ 13 Negotiation and the Social Territorial Agreement _____ 134 Role of external support of the PNTD process _____ 145 Thematic entry points _____ 156 PNTD in relation to other approaches_____ 22 LEADER _____ 22 Gestion de Terroirs _____ 22 Sustainable Livelihoods Approach _____ 23 Farming Systems _____ 23 Integrated Rural Development _____ 23 Participatory and