GESPLAN Group was founded at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) in 2006 by Dr. Adolfo Cazorla Montero.

At GESPLAN we combine professors and researchers who worked for more than 20 years in the area of ​​Project Management and Planning for Sustainable Rural Development of communities. Among the members of the group are young researchers and professionals in the field of agronomic engineering, industrial engineering and economics. This group of experts has extensive experience in Planning in Development, Program Evaluation, Project Management and hence, the problems associated with Rural Development.

Together with governments, universities and companies we design local, regional and national scale development programmes, as well as evaluate policies related to regional and rural development in the EU, education, research, or development cooperation. These collaborations have enabled us to work with international organizations – for example, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) or the General Directorate of Agriculture of the European Union; national governments such as Spain, Mexico, Peru or Uruguay-; or other prestigious universities - such as Wageningen University, University College Cork, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, or UC Los Angeles.

Our objective is to address interdisciplinary issues related to rural / local development in developing countries within a global context, but also within the local context and specific problems of disadvantaged.

When solving these problems, we can draw on an array of experiences and knowledge due to the diversity of our staff. The developed projects are not standalone or independent. On the contrary, the projects constitute of a package of complementary or simultaneous activities, which aim to eradicate the root cause of the problem. This requires planning, management and evaluation models, which are based on reality and aim at improving the way we approach development programmes and projects. Our goal is to collaborate in the development of suitable planning, management and evaluation models. We are specialized in the area of regional decentralization, food security and gender.

The continuous research and national or international collaboration with Spanish, European or American universities evolves around the following principles: