Description
Project supports village councils in the area of developing and implementing - with participation of its citizens - the updated village development strategies as a part of more general idea of renewal of rural areas in the region of Dolny Śląsk. Village councils don't have the skills to evaluate the strategies, while the inhabitants aren't active in their communities. A model for updating village strategies will be developed that can be also implemented by other village councils, and surveys on barriers for and factors enhancing participation of citizens in rural renewal processes will be conducted in order to support villages having in mind their real needs. Several activities are planned, such as trainings for renewal teams, workshop meetings for village citizens, a publication, a conference to share good practices, study trip. Under the project, a cooperation with Opolskie voivodeship will be started in order to learn their experiences in this field. Project will be run in partnership with Local Action Group that will provide the experience in rural development projects as well as contacts with rural communities and local governments in the region.
Summary of project results
"Participation of inhabitants in local decision-making is low, their engagement in rural renewal plans weakens, and the system of municipal support for villages is weak (based on own surveys and interviews with rural renewal leaders). Rural renewal is a program to mobilise local communities for active planning and implementing initiatives for their villages. The aim of the project was to support 20 villages in Dolnośląskie and Opolskie voivodeships through developing and testing the model for updating village rural renewal strategies and disseminating experiences among other villages. A model was looked for that would possibly broadly include inhabitants in planning and implementing of activities, thus integrating the whole communities. The implementation of the project helped to improve competencies of 42 leaders, 20 village councils and 804 inhabitants in planning local development, and to disseminate good examples of inhabitant participation in rural renewal. 20 village rural development strategies were updated, about 130 activities implementing strategies were conducted. 2 trainings were organised for 20 teams for renewal of localities (42 persons) on methods of communication and mobilising communities and planning projects and evaluating the process, as well as 60 workshops to update 20 strategies (804 inhabitants), a study journey to enhance the knowledge on good practices in rural renewal (30 leaders participating in the project), a conference (65 persons) with a debate on barriers in engaging inhabitants, opportunities for using rural renewal in local development and improving participation in village decisions. The model for socialised updating of village strategies was prepared, as well as tools for monitoring social changes in localities and a publication containing guidelines on engaging inhabitants in rural renewal. In the project participated rural renewal groups, associations, rural renewal leaders, representatives of municipalities (including marshall offices), organisations supporting rural development and inhabitants. The project partner, LDG Górna Prosna, contributed to the project their experience in activities related to rural renewal and activation of local communities, supported socialised updating of village strategies in Opolskie voivodeship, and propagated the project."
Summary of bilateral results