The authors argue that effective people-centered development will require use of new planning frameworks, and a reorientation of the structures, management systems, and institutional cultures of most development agencies. They present two cases from the Philippines which illustrate promising approaches. One involves the formulation by the USAID Mission of a development strategy based on analysis of the survival strategies of poor households. The other analyzes the use by the National Irrigation Administration of a central-level working group to help deJne and institutionalize a reorientation in its approach to assisting farmer-owned and operated irrigation systems.