Local Action Groups and Sustainable Development Agenda: Case Study of Regional Perspectives From Czechia

Abstract

The United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is generally accepted as an overarching framework to cope with various global challenges. Many of them are manifested locally and need to be solved at the regional or local level. National strategies of regional development and top-down funding are important drivers of the activities of various regional actors. However, the integration of the regional development strategies and the sustainable development agenda is not straightforward and may fail to acknowledge the local context and potential for bottom-up activities. In the European Union's (EU) context, the local action groups (LAGs) are an important driving force of regional development, but little is known about their perception of the sustainable development agenda. The article presents a research case study of Czech LAGs realized in 2021. LAGs were approached with questionnaires focusing on their understanding of the sustainable development agenda and their own role in the process of its implementation. In this paper, we show that the LAGs' representatives are aware of the sustainable development concept and work with relevant governmental strategies, but they feel that they cannot contribute to the fulfillment of many particular sustainable development goals (SDGs), especially those related to the environment. This contrasts with their reflection of the goals with an economic and social focus in which they feel relatively more empowered, especially in education. Our findings reveal that there is a high risk of mismatch between the bottom-up potential of LAGs for regional sustainable development and top-down conditions of national strategies. The results of the research contribute to the contemporary discussions about the SDGs and regional development and thus could be used by both academics and practitioners. Notably, national policymakers and regional authorities could benefit from our insights into LAGs' perspective of SDGs' implementation.

Role of Actors in the Processes of Sustainable Development at Local Level—Experiences From the Czech Republic

“…Data analysis showed the relationships of the various local actors and their roles as a driving force for sustainable development at local level, and illustrated the social environment in which these actors operate. To provide a comprehensive picture of how the sustainability processes are shaped by the social capital within this regional and local context, we cite other parts of the research (Vávra et al, 2022) while the specific role of education in actors' empowerment that is a pre-requisite of changes toward sustainability has been discussed in the national context (Dlouhá et al, 2021a).…”

“…These thematic areas correspond to the objectives of the research-to map the possibilities/constraints of sustainable development at local level and its driving forces in terms of actors' engagement (and bottom-up processes initiated by them). As the full questionnaire was quite detailed, its full version and some of the results (relevant for different research questions) were published elsewhere (Dlouhá et al, 2021a;Vávra et al, 2022).…”

“…In general, this research explored the conditions for sustainable development at the local level from the bottom-up perspective, paying special attention to local actors. There is complementary research (Vávra et al, 2022), which looks at topdown strategies and their impact at local level where the SDGs are the main focus. This work used the same questionnaire, and also same respondents-employees of the Local Action Groups that were assigned to represent their LAG-answered the questions.…”

“…The reasons why these changes are difficult to initiate include lack of funding (too narrowly-defined support through the LAGs), insufficient human resources, and the low authority of LAGs in decision-making (due to shortcomings in legislation). The barriers that prevent LAGs from being leaders in sustainable development are discussed in detail by Vávra et al (2022).…”

“…In terms of how the SDGs can be promoted at local level, LAGs generally understand the importance of the SDG concept; however, there are only a few goals to which they can make a meaningful contribution (cf. Vávra et al, 2022). In general, LAGs can contribute most in the social area, including the economy, where immediate results can be expected.…”