Information systems for development planning

Inadequacy of information resources and information processing is considered to be one of the major obstacles to effective development planning. Despite the enormous potential provided by information technology, developing countries face severe problems in creating effective information systems infrastructure to sustain national development planning. This paper explores the nature of the development planning activity and its information requirements and examines various initiatives that have been taken to meet the information and information processing needs of development planning. It then discusses some of the main problems of the current situation and makes suggestions for the development of an information systems infrastructure for development planning.