This brief examines the experience of four councils in Tanzania in implementing Opportunities and Obstacles to Development (O&OD), a bottom-up participatory planning methodology for local development. The study found little evidence to date that the approach has increased local autonomy in prioritising, planning and budgeting of development activities. Interactions and consultations between local communities and council management teams were limited, bottom-up community plans were typically viewed as wish lists by council officials, and local priorities were largely set by the central government