The project “Local Works – Together for Local Development”, which includes ten municipalities from southwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina (West Herzegovina Canton and Canton 10), was launched to improve the local approach to local community development, which involves cooperation and coordination of a wide range of local actors, local communities, civil society organizations, local businesses) in the processes of planning, and later implementing, local development plans.
This type of improvement requires a preliminary analysis of the state of capacities and resources of target groups, as well as the existing practice of cooperation, coordination and general participation in decision-making processes in the field of local development. In this respect, the municipalities/cities covered by the survey do not stand out from the BiH average in which the reality of political relations and practices directly affects the neglect of responsibility for local development which causes economic stagnation and the associated problematic social challenges. The analysis of the situation in the area of ten municipalities additionally confirms the already known unfavorable context in which the system of local self-government operates. It has undoubtedly been concluded that all analyzed local actors only partially have the resources and capacities, while the practices of cooperation, coordination, communication and participation, in principle, are only formally present, without their significant essential exploitation.
Based on the established conclusions, the analysis concludes with a set of recommendations whose main purpose is to affirm the local approach to local community development through the implementation of appropriate measures and activities that will enable the establishment of local development structures, local awareness of needs and opportunities, and mobilization of local actors.
Success in the application of this model of action in this limited area with selected local self-government units can be an introduction to the preparation of a comprehensive strategically determined plan for improving the local approach to local development planning for the entire local self-government system in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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