Local participation in creating development strategy

Pawluczuk, Andrzej

Local participation in creating development strategy

Abstract

This paper describe the issue of residents' participation in the process of creating a local development strategy. The author presented the results of a study concerning the residents' activity, their structure and the scope of participation for three selected strategies: one for the voivodeship level and two local strategies for the communal level. The requirement of including residents in the process of establishing the strategy for a voivodeship results directly from the law, and as for the local level, consulting the strategy is recommended. The inclusion of residents in the process of creating the development strategy requires taking various actions and using various tools. In the analyzed cases, these were: a survey, meetings with stakeholders, expert panels and informing of the work on the strategy through the media. The process of resident participation had a positive influence on the adoption of the development strategy document at the council session and enhanced the residents' awareness of the plans of the voivodeship's or commune's strategic development.