Methodology for participatory assessment and updating of Spatial Development Plan: the case of Tocache province, San Martín (Peru)

Abstract

The Spatial Development Plan (SDP) is an instrument that needs to be assessed and
updated regularly in order to detect any factors that might be hindering the optimal execution of
different projects; they can thus be rescheduled, discounted or replaced by others, as the case may
be. Tocache, owing to its social and political characteristics, is a territory of interest for the Peruvian
state. The assessment and updating process has been carried out in a participatory way;
consequently, the compiling of primary information has been done by means of interviews with key
informants, work with focus groups, participant observation and participatory workshops. The
methodology used has been devised in seven stages: (1) preparation; (2) preliminary assessment:
review and analysis of the document; (3) assessment (I): strategies used for the implementation of
the SDP; (4) assessment (II): adaptation to other plans for implementation; (5) assessment (III):
projects and actions implemented; (6) updating; and (7) validation. In conclusion, of the projects
and actions included in the plan, only 76% have been implemented. The main reasons for this
inconclusive materialisation are the change in government and civil servants and regulations that
have hindered the normal development of the plan.