In order to overview the whole process easier and more compact, we explicate one of our pilot actions from the very beginning till the implementation phase. Our chosen pilot area is Jesenice, Slovenia.
Jesenice is located in north-western part of Slovenia. The centre of the pilot area is town of Jesenice at the southern slopes of Karavanke Range. The city is well known as one of the Slovenian steel towns and as the city of flowers thanks for the rich iron tradition and white daffodils.
After the designation of the work team (Step 1) and reach a common vision and the mainstream for the future developments the local inhabitants were identified (Step2) and asked to participate in our action to complete the collected list of touristic attractions with development potential. The technique to do it was designate working groups, where each group got a map of the territory and they had to mark the all known cultural values (Step 3).
At this stage three workshops were organized for the local inhabitants where were around 20-25 participants at each meeting. They were stimulated to take part in the preparation of the
György Fekete: Participative Methods on Cultural Value Management in Rural Areas 115
Vision of Jesenice (Bole–Hribar–Kozina 2013). They collected all the cultural values which they thought important and collected ideas for the future development. The three designated working group have been working on three pilot actions (Stage 4) and one action plan have been prepared at the last workshop. It will enable the involved local actors to proceed with the implementation because it contains the clear tasks, responsibilities and deadlines (Step 5). The last step is the monitoring (Step 6). It means the continuous checking of the implementation.
We can see that the bottom-up approach was the only way to enable long-term rural developments based on the local needs and we have experienced that these types of principle of work are more demanding, but it could solve the arising conflicts and turn them into consensus.
Conclusions
Our methodology for the management of utilization of cultural values in rural areas as a potential development source just one of the ways on how to revitalize the less favoured rural areas.
We have got positive experiences during the implementation of the prepared action plans. For example, we have received very good feedbacks from the local stakeholders, and they were interested in the development of their cultural values and were dedicated in the growth of the local economic incomes, their life quality and the preservation of the cultural and environmental heritages.
The partners are sharing common views regarding these types of developments. It has to have more time to start generating positive economic, social and environmental changes. The success of local development actions mainly depends on the inclusion of the involved stakeholders, the public as well as private sectors. One of the key elements of a successful development plan is ensuring the communication and the information flow. The local stakeholders have to know the latest trends and the existing development way and actions. If we involve them into the process we can avoid the potential conflicts later on. If we use some kind of participatory techniques, in this case we can reach that the local stakeholders feel that they are responsible for the successful implementation and maintenance on long term.
Our expected results that the work was done by us will effect positive changes in the local economy, labour market and well-being beside the conversation our cultural values and environment and it may could turn back the disadvantageous social processes.
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