Co-production of public services In rural areas – the Polish way?

Olejniczak, Jarosław; Bednarska-Olejniczak, Dorota

doi:10.5817/cz.muni.p210-9268-2019-52

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…As the latter of the indicated forms is used in smaller communities (sołectwothis usually covers one village; that is, several dozen to several hundred inhabitants), the roles of a discussion among the whole local community, and co-operation and negotiation when designing, implementing, and using solutions, are crucial. In the opinion of several authors, such actions support the local society [90][91][92]. However, in the case of some municipalities, despite the postulates formed by local communities, FSs are not launched by local authorities.…”

Section: Regional Self-government In Poland Versus Regional Development Civil Society and Citizen Participation In Public Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grants for Local Community Initiatives as a Way to Increase Public Participation of Inhabitants of Rural Areas

2021

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Increasing the participation of inhabitants in the activities of local authorities has been one of the topics in the discussion on sustainable development for a long time. In rural development, there is also a demand for increasing the participation of inhabitants. This is possible thanks, among other things, to tools that enhance bonds in local communities, encompassing processes based on the mechanisms of the co-creation and co-production of public services, or various forms of participation in the decision-making processes of self-government. In Poland, some regional self-governments (voivodeships) have introduced solutions based on a system of grants for small local communities (villages/sołectwa) linked to deliberative participation, co-creation, and co-production processes. The goal of this article is thus to analyse the design, operation, and scale of grant mechanisms implemented by regional authorities for local communities in Poland’s rural areas (sołectwa). The first stage of the research process was a review of the literature, followed by analysis of the existing solutions and mechanisms for supporting small local communities in individual regions of Poland by financing or co-financing projects that engage inhabitants in the co-creation and co-production of public goods or services. Based on this, the key assumptions considered when creating this type of mechanism of support by voivodeship self-governments were determined. A subsequent stage of research involved analysing the case study of a solution introduced in 2016 by the Łódź regional self-government. The research results indicate that the analysed grant system model stimulates local communities that were previously passive/excluded by other programmes and that, as a result of the stable conditions of a grant contest, the process of “learning” and “imitating” the actions of the communities that succeeded occurs. The research results indicate that the proposed system of grants, which is conditionally based on the participation and co-operation of the inhabitants, seems to be an effective means of activating communities. The findings also point to features that could determine the success of the introduced grant model, such as its simplicity, limiting the bureaucracy (partially limiting the influence of local authorities on who obtains grants), and the transparency of the procedure.

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Section: Regional Self-government In Poland Versus Regional Development Civil Society and Citizen Participation In Public Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grants for Local Community Initiatives as a Way to Increase Public Participation of Inhabitants of Rural Areas

2021

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“…Concluding the review of the issues concerning potential collaboration of citizens and local authorities, it bears noting that the literature touching on the subject rarely provides comprehensive solutions for PB in rural areas (some of the few indicated countries are Peru [59][60][61], top down process design and participation of vulnerable groups; Poland [62], coproduction of public services and PB system design; and Indonesia and Kenya [63], legal and finance issues). In most cases, this is caused by the lack of national regulations, whilst detailed areas of the analysis of participation mainly pertain to, in the case of China [64][65][66] for different areas of case studies, water supply, area planning, and waste management; in case of the UK [67], PB process design; for Russia [68], PB vs. public services delivery; for the Czech Republic [69], elderly and civic engagement; for Ukraine [70], problems with participation processes; for the Philippines [71], PB and poverty; for Italy [72], participation and smart villages; and worldwide [73,74], community participation in health care design and provision.…”

Section: Citizen Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It also bears noting that the legislative and executive authorities of local territorial governments in Poland are meant to represent the respective local communities, which is to say, to ensure the realization of the concept of direct democracy. However, for the purpose of better adjusting public services to the needs of citizens, the legislator envisaged the possibility to hold consultations with the citizens [77,78] whose main forms are the participatory budget [48,[79][80][81][82] and (only for rural areas) the Solecki fund [62,83,84]. The Solecki fund (pol.…”

Section: State Of Art-the Development Of Rural Areas In Poland Through the Prism Of Pbmentioning

confidence: 99%

How a Participatory Budget Can Support Sustainable Rural Development—Lessons From Poland

2020

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Since the announcement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the need for localization of SDGs has been emphasized. In this context, sustainable rural development is still a relatively undescribed area in the context of using the participatory budget as a tool to implement SDGs. Few countries have introduced legal regulations in practice, enabling the creation of participatory budgets (especially in rural areas), so a multifaceted analysis of a decade of Poland's experience may provide important guidelines for countries considering introducing such solutions, which we consider to be the main purpose of this study. This is the first study covering all communes where participatory budgets (Solecki Fund—FS) were created in Poland during the 2010–2018 period (up to 60% of all), covering both the analysis of the process of creating FSs, the directions of spending and the scale of spending (including regional differentiation), as well as legal regulations and the consequences of including central government support in this mechanism. On the basis of the research, it can be observed that, despite the small scale of FS spending, the number of municipalities using this form of citizen participation is increasing. At the same time, there is significant variation between regions, which indicates the flexibility of the FSs in adapting to the needs reported by residents. The analysed directions of expenditure indicate that the FSs are in line with the SDG objectives related to the improvement of residents' quality of life. It can be concluded that, despite the existing legal regulations, the introduction of the Solecki Fund undoubtedly depends on the political will of the local government's legislative authorities and the willingness of residents to participate in decisions on spending directions.

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Co-production of public services In rural areas – the Polish way?

Abstract: Publikace neprošla jazykovou úpravou. / Publication is not a subject of language check. Za správnost obsahu a originalitu výzkumu zodpovídají autoři. / Authors are fully responsible for the content and originality of the articles.

Cited by 2 publications

References 4 publications

Grants for Local Community Initiatives as a Way to Increase Public Participation of Inhabitants of Rural Areas

Grants for Local Community Initiatives as a Way to Increase Public Participation of Inhabitants of Rural Areas

How a Participatory Budget Can Support Sustainable Rural Development—Lessons From Poland

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