Dialogue, Consensus and Vision

Land Tenure Working Paper 12: The Participatory and Negotiated Territorial Development (PNTD) methodology is a facilitative process developed by FAO that strives for rural development through negotiation, participation and dialogue. In view of the growing competition over limited resources among actors and territories and the decreasing credibility of public administrations, this approach focuses on establishing and maintaining social dialogue within the territory and restructuring and/or strengthening territorial institutions. Intermediary level institutions have an important role in integrating the territory and its actors in the existing governance framework. The ultimate goal, and thus the emphasis of the approach, is not the preparation of a development plan or a territorial pact in itself, but, rather, facilitating the process and dynamics that lead to such agreements. In this respect, consultation and openness towards a social dialogue between different stakeholders who have differing interests represent a fundamental step in the process. The proposed approach assumes an inherent learning process with the objective of increasing social cohesion, strengthening the bargaining power of the marginalized, increasing people’s and institutions’ organizational capacities and improving their access to information and channels of communication, and their abilities to use these for their own development.