Mansoor Ali

Shehersaaz (City Makers) is an independent, not-for-profit civil initiative striving for action research and sustainable development in urban and rural settlements of Pakistan.

Shehersaaz envisions contributing for the development of such urban and rural settlements in Pakistan that are physically functional and attractive; cohesive to natural environment; socially accommodative; economically efficient and equitable, politically just; and responsive to the needs and aspirations of their inhabitants.

Research, planning, training and advocacy are key endeavors of Shehersaaz in the thematic areas of local governance, environment, disaster management, public health, housing, transport, and water and sanitation.

Incomplete Notes

Development in

PracticeMansoor Ali's work is a thoughtful and reflective contribution by a scholar and development practitioner concerned with the complexity and politics of development. His essays capture very nicely the messy nature of development whilst also stressing the need for reflexive learning and bringing together the diverse social, technical and cultural aspects of development. The book will be invaluable for young professionals grappling with the development conundrum.

Lyla Mehta, Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, UK and Adjust Professor, Noragric, Norwegian University of Life Sciences.

'The author deserves credit for this highly readable and informative book which draws together critical development principles for successful practice. The inclusion of stories about some of the world's great development thinkers is useful and inspiring especially to the young development practitioners'.

Martin Mulenga, Senior Researcher, Human Settlements Group, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), UK

“Working as a young professional concerned with programming and technical aspects in an expanding iNGO, I benefited greatly from this journey through scenarios and perspectives gathered during Dr Ali's long career in development. Apparent throughout is his commitment to continuously understand and learn about the real impact of development interventions on people's opportunities, livelihoods and environment. Such reflection is as important as going back to measure the sustainability of the 'things' we provide, yet we often struggle to do either. We are reminded of the tension between a 'planning-focused' approach to development and one that is people-centred, flexible and evolving, and which seeks to build upon the upon existing capacities, priorities and realities of the poor. These are refreshing insights working in the world of NGOs, where the rush to move complete a project and move ahead to the next planning cycle means we can remain unaware of the true long-term impact, and any unforeseen consequences, of our work.

The Incompleteness of these Notes in Development Practice is refreshing, giving the reader ample space to reflect on its key messages, which are thought-provoking and challenging. There are relevant lessons and insights here to take away for anyone involved in planning to become involved in the complex world of development.”

Nick Bundle, Regional Technical Adviser - South AsiaWaterAid, London

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Incomplete notes in development practice is a collection of articles written for young development practitioners by Mansoor Ali between 2008 and 2011. Drafts of these articles were written during his country visits for Practical Action, his own lectures and reflective notes after working with or listening to others. The title 'incomplete notes' reflects the open ended nature of the development issues. Most of the articles are deliberately left open ended as the author believes that the thinking process in development practice needs to be an on-going one, with continuous debate and engagement with no blue prints and prescriptions. Therefore it was felt to leave these notes open-ended, challenging young professionals to do more work. At the end of each article there are questions or short exercises which could be used by teachers. The topics covered are also wide ranging, but most of them refer to a context in the provision of basic services for poor people within the wider context of development planning. These articles are important to inform young professionals in development practice, interested in working for low income countries and ready to do work within the complexity of systems.

About the Author;Mansoor Ali grew up in a low income area of Karachi, Pakistan. During his professional degree course in Civil engineering, he started work with the Orangi Pilot Project between 1984 and 1985. OPP is considered as the largest and one of the most successful programmes in urban development in 1984 and 1985. Subsequently he worked on a number of projects, researched and published on a number of urban environmental issues in Pakistan, before starting his higher qualification and research in the UK on the topic of informal systems in waste collection and recycling. Following his PhD he continued to teach, research and publish from WEDC at Loughborough University, UK. In 2005, he joined Practical Action (formal Intermediate Technology Development Group), an organization working on the philosophy of small is beautiful by Fritz Schumacher on people centered development and appropriate technologies. In the last 10 years he worked in Asia and Africa and shared his learning in a number of universities and professional conferences. The views expressed in this book are mainly his personal reflections and do

Incomplete Notes in Development Practice

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not represent positions or strategies of any organization he has been attached with.