Book Announcement; Incomplete Notes in Development Practice by Mansoor Ali. A book written development practitioners, based on author's 26 years of experience. http://www.slideshare.net/Mansoor_Practical/book-incomplete-notes-9929154 For the book summary click above;

1. 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.
Incomplete Notes Shehersaaz envisions contributing for the development of such urban and rural
settlements in Pakistan that are physically functional and attractive; cohesive to natural
in environment; socially accommodative; economically efficient and equitable, politically
just; and responsive to the needs and aspirations of their inhabitants.
Development Research, planning, training and advocacy are key endeavors of Shehersaaz in the
thematic areas of local governance, environment, disaster management, public health,
Practice housing, transport, and water and sanitation.
Mansoor 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.
Mansoor Ali 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 Asia
WaterAid, London

2. Incomplete Notes in Development Practice not represent positions or strategies of any organization he has
been attached with.
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
1. www.cadtm.org 1. www.cadtm.org
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