Sustainable Development of Rural Areas – at the “Komi Voytyr” Conference
At the traditional annual “Komi voytyr” conference in the Udora district, held this year in the form of breakout meetings, followed by a plenary meeting, special attention was paid to the problem of sustainable development of rural areas – district villages and settlements. That was precisely the topic of one of the sections, conducted with an active participation of the Silver Taiga Foundation and Regional Public Movement “Indigenous Women of the Komi Republic” representatives.
It is clear that prior to the planning of the rural territories development, it is necessary to draw attention to at least three points. First, it is required to assess objectively the availability of resources for the development – natural, labor, organizational, etc. Second, initiative is needed – on the part of the local entrepreneurs, non-governmental organizations, and local self-government bodies: specific initiatives could potentially turn into development projects. And, of course, the projects implementation requires finances. Based on all these factors, the section participants discussed the declared subject, quite objectively assessing the local resources and telling about the real initiatives of the Udora people, aimed at the development of the traditional crafts, rural tourism, and territorial public self-government.
Indeed, such initiatives exist – these are the guest houses in Sjol’yb, Patrakovo, and some other villages – used not to full capacity so far. This is the AgroUdora cooperative, uniting the rural inhabitants and giving them a chance to carry out fishing activities legally, without violating the law. Besides, these are the first TPSGs (territorial public self-governments) … These examples have been given in the speeches of the conference delegates Alexey Ivanovich Vurdov, Dina Ivanovna Chuprova, Alexander Nikolaevich Kochev, and others. Unfortunately, the mentioned initiatives suffer from lack of support on the part of the local self-government, both from settlement councils and administrations. This has been highlighted almost in every speech.
In particular, it has been stated that the AgroUdora cooperative, which is, certainly, a valuable initiative of the Udora people, is gradually losing its position, undiscovered and untapped opportunities, due to facing numerous problems related to imperfection of legislation, lack of knowledge about the ways and methods of sustainable river resources management under present conditions, and lack of support from the local authorities. Some other examples have also been provided.
On the basis of the section participants proposals, the conference recommended the district authorities to include the support of the local initiatives, aimed at the rural areas development, into the priority areas of the joint activity of the local self-government bodies and division of the interregional NGO “Komi voytyr”. Particularly but not exclusively, to help the AgroUdora cooperative to develop the management and economic development plan for the coming year and the long term. The district administration has also been recommended to address the government of the Republic with the request to develop and implement a model of public-private partnership in the field of tourism development, based on the former Bulgarian Reception house in Usogorsk and a network of guest houses and other tourism facilities in the district.
The conference delegates from the settlements have been suggested to get involved in the project activity in order to develop and implement the promising initiatives of the population and local communities.
Valentina Semyаshkinа
Translated by Irina Sokolova
