The process of defining alternative options and selecting a preferred choice is a critical element in the overall process of strategy development. However it has not traditionally received a great deal of attention, because of factors such as partners being reluctant to subject tried and trusted approaches to more objective assessment.

Assessing the expected impacts of proposed strategies is a difficult task because it involves projection into the future. This chapter offers guidance, drawing attention to the potential approaches and the advantages and difficulties involved. An initial choice needs to be made about whether to adopt simple or more sophisticated approaches. The sophistication of the assessment should increase with the scale and complexity of the strategy; the financial, time, data and human resources available; the degree of political demand, and; with the level of understanding of the user.

What difference a prior assessment can really make depends on various issues. At best it can bring about a better tailored and more coherent local development strategy, increase collective understanding about the means to attain goals and mobilise actors into contributing to the achievement of the goals. If it is not used properly, however, it might be a symbolic act with not much visible impact on how the local development policy evolves.

This chapter considers the issues surrounding the successful implementation of a local development strategy. It underscores the importance of assessing, implementation issues and addressing them at the beginning of the process in order to embed implementation considerations in the development of the strategy and avoid some of the obstacles to success.