A small village's efforts to go green - Sustainability, Inclusivity and Quality life in rural areas
In Alsómocsolád "urbanization" has become a feature. Gardens and farm buildings became unused, while buying food from multi-firms. As a result of our programme, environmental and health-conscious behaviors are integrated and valued, recreating traditional village lifestyle at a higher level in response to challenges of the times. Only a "green", inclusive settlement can provide quality life attracting newcomers and can also be a solution to the demographic and economic problems of rural areas.
Local
Hungary
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Mainly rural
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Municipality of Alsómocsolád Type of organisation: Public authority (European/national/regional/local) First name of representative: László Last name of representative: Dicső Gender: Male Nationality: Hungary Function: Mayor Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Rákóczi u. 21. Town: Alsómocsolád Postal code: 7345 Country: Hungary Direct Tel:+36 30 916 4231 E-mail:mocsolad@t-online.hu Website:https://alsomocsolad.hu/
URL:https://www.facebook.com/alsomocsolad Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): Municipality of Alsómocsolád (Alsómocsolád Község Önkormányzata) #Alsomocsolad, #Alsómocsolád #ezcsaktermeszetes, #ezcsaktermészetes
In the 1990s, after the regime change, "urbanization" became a feature of our settlement. Grassing instead of vegetable gardens, unused farm buildings, and population buying food from global companies. These processes contradict the vision of a green and sustainable Alsómocsolád.
So iIt’s essential to incorporate and value conscious behavior pattern aimed at natural, healthy lifestyle and environment preservation, recreating the traditional village way of life at a higher level in line with the challenges of our times. Thus a "greener" settlement can provide a higher quality of life based on a higher level of awareness, which attracts newcomers, too.
We don’t present a specific project, but rather an approach, a development and management strategy, the implementation of which can be traced in several projects.
We’ve launched a number of programmes that use target group specific methods to introduce healthy and environmentally conscious lifestyle, both in terms of traditional values, existing, re-learnable knowledge and good practices, the appropriate use of local potentials, energy awareness, nutrition, natural housekeeping; encourage responsible thinking and active participation, build on the participants’ ideas, needs and creativity and require a continuous learning effort at both individual and organizational level.
Based on the goals they aim to achieve, our projects are:
Nature-based solutions for village development
oBreathing Grove, Children's Grove, South Slope, Silver Promenade, Forest Gymn, educational trails
oEnvironment-conscious institution management
Energy awareness (Energy modernization of public and residential buildings, Energy community)
Rural development
oLocal Economic Development Program,
oPlanting fruit trees, flowers and vegetables in gardens)
Environmental education and community programmes (Ecoclubs, It's Just Natural Festival, Utilization of fallen leaves, Forest School Program, Bio-briquetting equipment, etc.)
Awareness-raising
Knowledge base enhancement
Individual and community responsibility – action
Health and environmental awareness
Energy Community
Innovation, Participation, Strategic Thinking and Sustainability comprise the horizontal aspects of village development, governance and community development activities of Alsómocsolád.
With the involvement of all actors in the municipality - citizens, economic organizations, NGOs - we have developed a new model of local governance focusing on the institutionalisation of strategic management and our jointly defined mission:
“To create a liveable settlement, protected, valued, and loved by its citizens, which retains its population and attracts those who have left; responds to the challenges of our times; seeks and finds its breakthrough points; develops on a human scale; constantly renews itself, makes itself open, interesting, and attractive to the world; seeks out opportunities that can serve local, regional, and wider needs in an economically viable way."
Sustainability for us is not just about environmental sustainability, but also about economic and social sustainability.
In the design and evaluation of our projects, it is important that the project contributes to the preservation of our natural environment, while at the same time being financially sustainable and contributing to social equity, solidarity, social mobility and community building.
In 2021, we developed and applied the so-called Smart Village Scoreboard to assess where we are on the path of becoming a Smart Village, and how well we can implement innovation, sustainability and participation in our projects.
In this application, we want to showcase the exemplary approach of a small village through a number of implemented projects, which are exemplary even in themselves. They reflect our approach to community development and empowerment, and contribute to the implementation of our vision and mission to make our community more inclusive, greener and sustainable.
All these experiences help our current goals - the creation of a Renewable Energy Community and the development of the Silver econom
In Hungary, the vast majority of settlements with less than five hundred inhabitants are currently struggling to survive, drifting towards having no functions. This trend can be changed by a combination of a political framework that provides a function and social and economic weight, and local initiatives that build on the existing resources and the community of the settlements.
Social planning - futurology, vision and strategy and action plan creation - and implementation with the involvement of the population have been a practice in the life of the municipality of Alsómocsolád since 1992. The involvement of the population in planning lays the foundations for their commitment and provides a positive experience of belonging to the community, as they know that they are not just endurers, but active, acting shapers of the municipality’s development processes.
The planning processes are based on public forums and small group discussions. They’re fine-tuned, completed and, after making the necessary corrections, translated into strategic documents and action plans by a team of in-house and external experts, with continuous feedback.
As an example, the wish of creating a Children's Grove arose during a municipal strategy workshop. The families to be involved were identified jointly. In a joint workshop with the families concerned, under the guidance of our gardener, we chose the location of the grove, the tree species to be planted which suited the kids, the order of planting, the shape, size and content of the children identification signs, which were then voluntarily moulded by a graphic designer parent. The budget for the programme was provided by the Municipality, and the grove was created with the active participation of the families who also agreed to take care of the trees.
Inclusion, accessibility and equal opportunities are an important aspect of all our projects and are already present in the design of projects. In addition to personal contacts and communication, we place great emphasis on coordinating the work of the 12 NGOs and self-motivated groups operating in the municipality, on channelling grassroots initiatives, on helping them to take advantage of funding opportunities, and on facilitating their implementation with municipal support - in cash, in kind, or by providing venue free of charge, etc.
The materialization of the principles is programme element specific. When the Children's Grove was set up, families contributed a nominal 10% of their share of the costs, while the Municipality provided the remaining 90%, while at the same time they contribute to its sustainability by caring for the trees.
In the “Eating Our Own Bread” Local Economic Development Programme, we have introduced a local currency called Rigac, which is a significant boost to local economy. The programme is based on 4 pillars.
1. The Agricultural Production and Animal Husbandry Incentive Scheme provides livestock keeping opportunities through support for livestock and fodder.
2. A programme element to stimulate the launch of local services by encouraging residents to produce local products and to offer their labour and skills for sale in alternative employment.
3. The housing renovation and modernization element of the programme offers the applicant the opportunity to create decent housing conditions, improve farm buildings such as stables, etc., by receiving a 50% grant and a 50% interest-free loan.
4. In the business development programme element, the Municipality provides assistance to start-ups and enterprises introducing new services up to 50% of the planned project, up to a maximum of HUF 1,000,000 ( 2.500 euro) in the form of a loan and HUF 200,000 (500 euro) in the form of a non-repayable grant.
Alsómocsolád is a small, proactive, open, inclusive, cooperative, innovative small village, actively shaping its future. When founded, our municipality set itself the goal of calling upon and exploiting the patriotism, creativity and cooperation of its citizens, giving new meaning to small village life, making it more lively and liveable. The main value of a village is not only the material wealth it generates, but also the accumulation and constant growth of knowledge and its strong, cohesive, creative and solidary community.
In 1992, the municipality's leadership, with the involvement of all the active players in the village - citizens, economic organizations and NGOs - formulated a vision for the future, which is revised every three years.
The vision adopted by the community in 2014 is: "Alsómocsolád is a 21st century small, liveable, friendly, and innovative village, preserving and renewing its values, thriving on local economy, growing in population."
This vision is embodied in an Economic Programme built on social planning, municipal and regional development strategies, sub-strategies, concepts, concrete action and development plans, the implementation of which are on-going, built on the population’s efficacy.
Community and empowerment as a value can also be measured by the number and diversity of the village’s civil organizations. NGOs, foundations, self-motivated groups and clubs help to involve population and strengthen regional, national and international links.
A municipal children and youth council has been in place since 1996 to prepare local young people for life. The Foundation for Alsómocsolád and the "Autumn Light" Foundation help to carry out public tasks. Here we have Friends of Alsómocsolád, Neighbourhood Watch Association, Single Parents' Families Club Foundation, Alsómocsolád Sports Association, Patchwork Club and May Skittles Club. Pearl of Seven Streams Nature Park Association and Public-Space-Net Foundation have a regional scope.
Since our application does not present a specific project, but the approach and organizational culture of how our municipality works, we would not reduce the participation of different levels and stakeholders to the level of implementation of a specific project, but to the level of structure and organizational culture.
At local level, cooperation with the population, NGOs, institutions and local businesses goes from project design to evaluation.
The difficulty in this process is to find a balance in when, where and how much the municipality should 'intervene' in the processes, to give enough room for grassroots initiatives, but also to be able to withdraw in time. For example, it should provide help in compiling a proposal for a tender, or rather transfer the skills and knowledge to enable the organization to carry out these tasks by itself.
Our resources are finite, and this is particularly true for human resources. It is therefore important that we can make good use of our existing capacities and develop them in such a way that this knowledge is retained in the village.
What is exemplary in our village is the cooperation with NGOs, the support system, regular programme coordination, joint project planning, implementation and joint evaluation.
At regional level, we cooperate with the municipalities and NGOs of the surrounding municipalities and, in case of international projects, with municipalities, NGOs, universities and scientific institutes at home and abroad.
The main criterion for selecting partners is that they should be committed and highly knowledgeable in the field concerned and open to presenting their good practice and learning. Our experience is that it is not enough to get to know good practices. You need to be able to adapt these practices to your own context. The key is to improve our adaptability and readiness for lifelong learning - both at individual and organizational level.
Alsómocsolád is a settlement of 300 inhabitants. It would be unrealistic to expect that in the course of our operations and the implementation of our projects we should not involve representatives of disciplines, areas of knowledge, competences, skills and abilities that are not available in our community.
We are also constantly developing ourselves, we see ourselves as a learning organization and we employ a sustainability and climate rapporteur.
We learned that important competencies are already required at problem identification. We can provide effective solutions if we know what the root problems are.
We often talk about mindset change, but real change requires behavior change, and for that we need creative and innovative tools that we also need to learn.
The problems in the system are likely to be solved only by tools outside the system. Learning from good practice can provide examples to follow, but the ability to adapt, to be resilient, needs to be learned and embedded in our organizational and community culture.
In implementing concrete projects, we follow the following process:
problem identification
finding good practices to the solution
adapting new practices
monitoring, testing, feedback, impact assessment
transfer of our own good practices
In practice, e.g. expertise in legal, economic aspects, nature-based solutions, community and social development, marketing and communication, project management, language proficiency, etc. may be needed during the implementation of the whole process.
E.g.:
The introduction of local money required knowledge of the legal framework, the economic aspects of using local currencies. We had to make financial analyses and impact assessment, clarify public attitudes, and we also involved the inhabitants in finding out the design and the name of the money.
The organization of a MOME IxD Camp, where representatives of the creative industries and students proposed solutions to some of local problems.
In order for the village to survive in the coming decades, to preserve its current values, to be able to manage its created resources well, it is necessary for the people living here to utilize environmental circumstances again, consciously and in a non-exploitative way - for example, existing small gardens, farm buildings and tools, forests and fields - they should know and consciously use the farming opportunities provided by the conditions, preserve traditions, relearn old village crafts. The potential of the existing service opportunities in the settlement must be discovered and exploited. It must be incorporated into everyday life. We must unite to make Alsómocsolád a better and more liveable settlement!
The broad social basis of the development of our programs and the active participation of residents in their development are novel.
Rigac, a local currency introduced within the framework of the Eat Our Own Bread Local Economic Development Program, is – in our opinion – unique in Hungary. It is very important that our programs are not specifically social in nature. Every family/citizen of Alsómocsolád can take part in them, regardless of their social status. The self-development mechanism generated by the introduction of local currency, which is one of the essential elements of innovation, could only commence due to the fact that all members of the community are part of the process.
We also see the use of the Smart Mirror as an innovative subjective self-assessment method. Our experience is that most of the time there is no time to evaluate the projects implemented and incorporate the experience into the planning of future projects. Since we could not find a method that could be adapted for us, we have developed and adapted our own method.
This innovative character is also reflected in the establishment of the Energy Community, which is one of our main areas of development, but there is no example of a functioning energy community in Hungary.
All elements of our programmes are adaptable, based on their in-depth understanding and document analysis.
The Local Economic Development Programme is a good example:
This programme provides a complex approach to developing local economy, increasing the amount of money circulating in it, raising the living standards of local residents, increasing the retention capacity of the municipality, increasing the knowledge and material base of the population, and creating alternative income opportunities. This is achieved by reintroducing traditional home-based farming, which is an integral part of the village way of life, helping people to become entrepreneurs/producers/smallholders, introducing new services for the population and improving the village image, and using local money as the main tool for economic development.
1. The agricultural stimulus element of the programme provides for the animals and the fodder needed to raise them by opening a loan of up to HUF 300,000 in the local currency. Participants in the programme can repay their loan, according to the terms of their contract, in Rigac or in kind by returning a certain number of the animals they have reared. The live animals returned may be purchased by residents who chose not to keep animals but to process them for their families.
2. The programme supporting the launch of local services encourages residents to produce local products and to offer their labour and skills for sale in alternative employment.
3. The Municipality provides a non-repayable grant in the scheme, split 50/50 in HUF and Rigac, and an interest-free loan of HUF 200,000, repayable in instalments of HUF 5,000/month.
4. In the business development programme, the Municipality provides assistance to start-ups and enterprises introducing new services up to 50% of the planned project.
The Smart Mirror methodology was designed to be adaptable to other municipalities, but we also offered our facilitation services to help with its preparation
Special methodological elements of our programmes that can be easily adapted:
Involvement, social planning:
Community or social planning and the creation of shared responsibility and participation require the broad involvement of citizens in the processes of environmental and village development right from the planning stage, and it is important to equalize opportunities for disadvantaged youth and adults. During the planning process, particular attention is paid to ensure that those personally addressed include people of all ages, from children to the very old, all nationalities, typically including gypsies, and people in special situations such as single-parent families, people with disabilities, unemployed, people living in extreme poverty, who thus will not only be beneficiaries of the results of the process but also their active shapers, reflecting their specific needs. We also maintain regular contact with the non-Hungarian community living in the village, listening to and taking into account their opinions, comments and ideas. We are curious and open to their culture and traditions. We involve them in the village's events, festivities and everyday life, as they are full citizens of our village.
We have held regular inhabitants' forums and workshops to involve local population at a higher level. These typically use the following methods:
Community discussion
Individual, pair and group work
Brainstorming
Prioritisation
World Cafe
Presentation, power point slide show - joint discussion
Role play
Film screening
Debate, argumentation
"Promise tree" - wording promises
1. Global problems
Climate change, natural disasters, ecological footprint, threats to biodiversity, environment pollution (air pollution, water pollution) - it is important that the population is aware of these problems and identify what changes are needed in their lifestyles to achieve sustainability, and that they can make these changes in a supportive community.
The slogan is: "Think globally, act locally."
2. Energy and transport
Energy efficiency, energy saving, renewable/non-renewable energy sources, transport - in the field of transport, it is important to raise awareness of individual responsibility and to provide information on the environmental impact of different means of transport and fuels. In the field of energy, it is important to raise awareness of the benefits of renewable and alternative energy sources and the steps to be taken to live an energy-efficient and energy-saving lifestyle. Efforts are being made to introduce support programmes such as the Energy Community.
3. Purchasing, consumption and waste
Eco-shopping, fair trade, local product, Hungarian products, organic and eco farming, waste generation, waste management, selective waste collection - the problem of shopping and waste is a major concern in the 21st century and these are the areas where we can most easily take action to protect the environment, if we think over our needs and consumption habits.
4. Organic farming
An expedient transition between chemical-centred and strictly chemical-free organic farming. It aims to increase yields without compromising soil fertility and soil quality, while avoiding environmental pollution. It reconciles the use of organic and artificial fertilizers and exploits the benefits of crop rotation. At the same time, the aim is to work the soil in a way that preserves the soil, increases humus content and improves water management.
As indicated earlier, we did not apply for a specific project, but through several of our projects we wanted to present an approach, an organizational and management culture that implements a municipal strategy based on innovation, community involvement and sustainability, which could serve as a model for other municipalities.
"In Alsómocsolád, autonomy has taken on a new meaning: self-sufficiency at municipal level, an exemplary success story of self-sustaining municipalities, created with the help of renowned economists and social scientists. The aim of the programme is to preserve existing assets, to use the resources created economically, to enable local people to take advantage of the farming opportunities provided by the environment and the potential of the services available in the municipality, and to integrate them into their daily lives in order to improve their quality of life. The innovative programme, which can be adapted to other settlements, will not only develop the local economy but also implement community development and service development elements."
What we are seeing is that this innovative approach, strategic planning and monitoring and evaluation of the projects already implemented are not only the results of this autonomy, but are also leading to new innovations, new contacts, new learning opportunities and thus new exemplary projects.
Our municipality acts as a point of reference, with several municipalities and professional groups coming to us to learn about our good practices. We also learn a lot from these visits.
We are also involved in several international projects, sometimes as a pilot project site, sometimes as a project partner or as a gestor organization. The projects we have already implemented have enabled us to adapt to difficult economic and social conditions, to become an environmentally, economically and socially - and even culturally - sustainable municipality.
One of the main problems of our settlement is depopulation, the ageing of society and the emigration of young people. The aim of the "Future-weave" programme was to stop this process by supporting young people who settle in the village and start a community enterprise.
As a result of the programme, those who moved in also brought with them skills and knowledge that boosted the development of the village, especially in the areas of Sustainability and language skills in international relations.
Since 2021, the municipality has employed a Sustainability and Climate Officer with qualifications in Community Development and Project Management.
Her tasks include generating and managing projects related to environment and climate protection, and attracting funding.
In the area of Sustainability, the main focus is on the creation of an Energy Community, one of the main pillars of which is to raise awareness, educate the public and demonstrate good practices.
This type of capacity-building is also reflected in our efforts to reintroduce organic farming, water conservation and the protection of soil and air quality. To adapt these, it is important that our residents are open to innovative practices, and to achieve this, we need communication, community development and social development competencies that help us to understand the needs, opportunities and motivations of our residents. This is particularly important for equal opportunities groups with special needs.
We believe that the municipality's task on the road to a Green Alsómocsolád is not only to carry out energy investments at municipal level or to provide financial support to the residents in modernizing their homes, but also to consciously organize community development and competence-building programmes that show our residents that sustainable living does not mean giving up, but that it brings positive changes in their lives that make Alsómocsolád worth living in.
