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Abstract
This paper presents the results of a case study of local economic development in Dolina
Strugu, Podkarpackie voivodship, Poland. Its aim is to analyse local development problems
and chances, to investigate the potential of endogenous initiatives to support economic development,
and to examine the prospects for an implementation of the EU’s initiative Leader+.
The case study primarily relies on interviews conducted with local government authorities,
NGOs, business owners and farmers in summer 2005. The hitherto unsatisfactory income
situation in agriculture has been particularly precarious for the region because two thirds of
the people in working age are employed in agriculture and alternative job opportunities are
mostly absent. To respond to these problems, a number of development activities have been
initiated by a local non-profit organisation called "Dolina Strugu". The initiative with the biggest
influence on the regional income situation is the marketing cooperative "Chmielnik
Zdrój", which is currently employing 400 local people. It buys products from local peasant
farms, processes them and sells them to 70 000 households in the further ambit. "Dolina
Strugu" and the local authorities successfully applied for the pilot measure to implement
Leader+ within the scope of the Polish Sectoral Operational Plan. The need for a local development
strategy and Leader’s inherent incentives to improve and create income sources make
its implementation a desirable objective. But there are also a number of barriers to successful
implementation. Local knowledge of the community initiative should be improved, the local
inhabitants’ short term planning perspective must be addressed by an appropriate vision, local
trust in EU institutions and programmes should be strengthened, and the cooperation between
the non-profit organisation "Dolina Strugu" and the representatives of local government
should be stabilised.