Rural communities, new stakeholders in local development in Lithuania

Rural communities, new stakeholders in local development in Lithuania To understand local development in Lithuania, we must take into account the effects of the social, economic and territorial heritage on how local areas function. The institutional vacuum created by the disappearance of large collective farms after the Soviet Union's collapse was not filled by recognizing the autonomy of local communities, as happened in other Central European countries. In the mid-1990s, an original citizen movement emerged in the form of "rural communities" that, reconnecting with the pre-Soviet village system, signaled a return to a concrete, operational territorial grid. During the first decade of their existence, this self-organized movement mainly focused on strengthening social bonds between the inhabitants of local communities; but since the Leader Program was introduced and has become a major source of funds for local development in Lithuania, these rural communities are adopting development strategies and concrete projects. This new form of local action is described by analyzing a few projects at the initiative of the Local Action Group in Joniskis district, northern Lithuania.