Our Hrhov Plan of Economic and Social Development (Mayor of Sp. Hrhov)

At the outset it should be made clear mentioned, where the idea came from to develop a Plan of Economic and Social Development (PE & SD).

The need of such a comprehensive document became obvious when we started writing projects. There were several NGOs in our village and a lot of wonderfully meshing activities being launched.

We could see how beautifully everything fits together, but we realized the need to develop a long term vision and use these smaller projects to reach a bigger goal.

At that stage we knew nothing about the legal standards supporting creation of such documents, or about the existence of a functioning methodology used for creating development plans, and nothing of people having a good understanding of such methodology. We did not even know that development plans had started to be created in Slovakia. When searching for information we spoke to ETP Slovakia, an organization working in our village, who offered us trained personnel and provided funds for a trainer and manager. Then an agreement on conditions followed, we created a work Team and made a start.

Our enthusiasm was enormous. We all knew that we were working on a document needed for the coordination of a great deal of activities that had been launched in our village. Sometimes our work was interesting, sometimes it was monotonous, from time to time it was difficult to formulate a common opinion, we were entangled in problems and it was difficult to set goals. But we knew we were moving forward. We were working very hard, always holding two long meetings per week. After a couple of months our PE and SD came into existence. I would like to thank the entire work group, that they did not miss a single meeting (except when being ill), for their intensive work and for their enthusiasm. The work of people involved in the creation of the development plan evokes the following idea: If you want to sail, by all means teach people to build ships but also awaken their desire for the sea.

Our PE & SD fits into the Prešov regional government plan and is in harmony with the National regional programme, and meets criteria of corresponding legal standards. It will serve as a working tool for the systematic development of our village and at the same time as a basis for the creation of projects from various resources. Its draft version has been used as the basis for writing and submitting an employment project within a grant scheme financed by the PHARE programme.

Mayor of the village of Spišský Hrhov – Mr. Vladimír Ledecký