Dobbin Planning Group's work in Integrated Regional Development (IRD) planning spans the globe. The work has special emphasis on integrated regional development associated with large scale mining projects. The group consistently uses advanced methods to organize and analyze information about large land and marine regions to improve decision-making.

Dobbin Planning Group's latest innovation, through Dobbin International Inc, lead one of the poorest regions in SE Madagascar—the Anosy Region—out of poverty by applying leading edge regional development planning approaches. Innovative spatial development strategies were used across all development sectors to identify multi-sectoral growth poles and corridors and create a dynamic regional development program and investment action plan. The development strategy and investment program, a $715 million, 20-year Regional Development Framework (RDF), received $500 million of committed funding from donors, NGOs and private sector investors within the first year.

Also in the Anosy Region in Madagascar, Dobbin International Inc participated on a US Geological Survey team preparing a dynamic mineral resources management pilot project linking mineral, ecological, hydrological assessments and regional and local development within a regional economic development frameworks. This set a new model for regional mineral assessments linking them to multi-sectoral regional economic development strategies.

Dobbin Planning Group, under the leadership of James Dobbin, recently designed and lead a Mozambican team in preparing Spatial Development Strategies for four districts in Mozambique. Dobbin Planning Group provided the "missing piece" in the decentralization and district planning process providing an entire new and innovative direction for regional and district development planning.