Guiding decisions: addressing plan implementation discrepancies in a Palestinian decentralization programme

Why are the implementation and results of a development programme too often inconsistent with their original plan and objectives? Underlying the many reasons for this are the fundamental contextual, political, and institutional influences that guide decisions and actions. Linked to this is the competition between physical and non-physical objectives often coupled in a programme. The case of the Palestine Local Rural Development Programme (PLRDP) and the decentralization model it follows is used to examine this view. In PLRDP the infrastructure and building objective which offered more visible, tangible and rapid results diverted resources and attention away from other critical non-physical and less tangible ones such as capacity building and decentralising finance. Symptoms, not causes, led to resource re-allocations. Following an analysis of the root causes—the political and institutional influences on decisions and actions that favoured the physical objectives—an outline is presented on how to address the issue. These include making non-physical components more visible, providing short-term benchmarks of progress and achievement of these components, and linking staff rewards to their achievement. There is need to understand and work with the influences guiding decisions to suit our purpose. They cannot be wished away.