DEVELOPING SMART VILLAGE CONCEPT IN RURAL AREA MANAGEMENT IN POLAND VIA LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS

Abstract

Smart Village is a relatively new concept in the European Union's social, economic, and spatial planning policies. The involvement of local development stakeholders (local authorities, rural communities, auxiliary institutions) is aimed at accelerated modernization of rural areas. However, the desired modernization is not purely economic task since it also needs to promote civic consciousness. In the European Union, associations and networks of non-governmental organizations engaged in developing rural areas, operating simultaneously in several communities to improve the effectiveness of implementation, are becoming increasingly popular. Poland also offers good examples in this respect. The subject of the study is the analysis of implemented projects in the field of Smart Villages that contribute to the multifunctional development of rural areas. The purpose of the paper is to characterize the local strategies of associations and networks of non-governmental organizations and their roles as additional tools for developing rural areas. The issues related to the development of these local strategies in Poland and their lessons for Ukraine were addressed in great detail in this study. In particular, the activities of the Local Action Groups were reviewed, their local strategies were analyzed, and their abilities to influence the implementation of the Smart Villages concept were determined. The research is focused on the Lublin Voivodeship of Poland since it is adjacent to Ukraine. The expertise of the Local Action Groups in Poland may be the most suitable for implementation in Ukraine. The situation in Ukraine was also analyzed as the "Let's Create Smart Villages Together" project was initiated in Ukraine during the decentralization reform in 2016. There is already available application software offered as an information and analytical system to automate the activities of territorial communities (hromadas). It is also a good tool for effective rural area management, in particular, for spatial planning. The digitalization of territorial communities is the first step towards the implementation of the Smart Villages concept. Due to the large-scale war, digitalization was mostly suspended, but there had already been progress before the Russian invasion. After the war, Ukraine will have to formulate its strategic plans based on the European models. Therefore, in addition to digitalization which will take place at the national level, it is necessary to use the potential of Local Action Groups as an effective tool for rural development.