had a vision of being a centre of excellence for both studies and practical work in rural development planning for poverty reduction and sustainable development. Its mission is to facilitate the process of development planning and management with an emphasis on rural areas.

The Institute offers both short and long term courses, conducting consultancy services and research activities in a wide range of issues. Among others, short courses and consultancy services offered by the Institute are on the matters related to Strategic Planning and Budgeting, Project Design, Monitoring and Evaluation, Project Write-up, Business Planning, Governance, Data Management; Social Security, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), Water, Hygiene and Sanitation (WASH), Gender and Development, Training/Capacity Need Assessment, GIS and Remote Sensing, and Change Management.

The Institute also publishes two Peer Reviewed Journals “Rural Planning Journals (RPJ)’ and “Planning and Development Initiative Journal (PDIJ)” each published twice annually. The Journals publish papers from scholars within and outside the Institute.