Rebranding Selija. Catalyst of community growth - Identity. Empathy.
NGO project about changing the identity of the region. It is based on local tradition, aesthetics and lifestyle and produces a lively, modern, social and visual reality. Identity signs for 34 communities, cooperation network with 40 participants, forums, discussion groups and an exciting information space. Model for community tourism. A confident voice of the communities at the state level helps to achieve the recognisability of the region increase and develops a culture program for Selija.
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-11-01
As a representative of an organization, in partnership with other organisations
Name of the organisation(s): NGO Udenszimes Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Ieva Last name of representative: Jatniece Gender: Female Nationality: Latvia Function: Leader of the board Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Kaldabruņas skola, Rubenes pagasts, Jēkabpils novads Town: Jēkabpils Postal code: LV -5229 Country: Latvia Direct Tel:+371 29 548 967 E-mail:ieva.jatniece@gmail.com Website:http://udenszimes.lv
Name of the organisation(s): NGO “Community cooperation network “Selijas salas”” Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Daina Last name of representative: Alužāne Gender: Female Nationality: Latvia Function: Leader of the board Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: "Klāvdruvas", Rubenes pag., Jēkabpils novads Town: Jēkabpils Postal code: LV-5229 Country: Latvia Direct Tel:+371 22 335 439 E-mail:daina.aluzane@gmail.com Website:http://www.selija.com
URL:http://facebook.com/Udenszimes Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #NVOfonds2020; #NVOfonds2021; NVOfonds2022; #aktivaskopienas; #selijassalas
URL:https://twitter.com/selijassalas Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #NVOfonds2020; #NVOfonds2021; NVOfonds2022; #aktivaskopienas; #selijassalas
URL:https://www.instagram.com/selijas.salas/ Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #NVOfonds2020; #NVOfonds2021; NVOfonds2022; #aktivaskopienas; #selijassalas
URL:https://www.facebook.com/selijassalas Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #NVOfonds2020; #NVOfonds2021; NVOfonds2022; #aktivaskopienas; #selijassalas
The project is being implemented in the historical region of Selija. It is the smallest and the least populated region in Latvia. Only in 2020 it received a concrete geographical definition due to the adoption of the law “On Latvian historical lands”.
The goal of the project is “rebranding Selija” by developing the identity of the region and an active community cooperation network. Ensuring a meaningful involvement of communities in the social and economic development of the historical land of Selija. To ensure the influence of these communities in decision making process in the municipal and state level.
In result:
- Palettes of identity and identity signs for 34 communities of Selija were developed
- An organisation “Community cooperation network “Selijas salas”” was created
- A game of constructive dialogue was created
- The homepage www.selija.com was created
- A high quality, inclusive information space was created – 2 Facebook pages, 1 group, Twitter and Instagram accounts, a WhatsApp group
- A digital community map was created, including a geographical map, as well as interviews and photographic material about 34 communities
- The definition and operating conditions of Community tourism was developed
- There have been 19 training seminars, and 210 people have participated in them
- A package of suggestions for the county municipalities has been prepared
- 2 Selijas NGO forums with the 240 participants
- 4 discussions with the representatives 14 members of the Latvian Parliament, municipalities, ministries and government bodies of LR More than 150 representatives of the communities, leaders, councilmen and experts from the 3 counties participated
- 2 events for the cooperation of the communities were organised in order to develop the Identity signs. 180 people participated in these events;
- A competition for the people in the rural communities “Silver of Selija” was organised.
Changing the social identity of the region
Changing the visual identity of the region
Developing community tourism
A competent civil society
Voice of the community in the level of state
An active, inclusive society
The development and activities of the Community cooperation network proves that the goals were reached. The network at this moment contains more than 40 communities. Action plans for the next two years have been developed and the interest of the society is increasing. The information medium of “Selijas salas” is well developed and the number of followers on the social networks is increasing.
Attractive and lively inner identity and sense of belonging in the region.
The identity signs are used in many different forms – they are put up as environmental objects, used as stamps and appear in publicity materials. New communities and even individuals demand their own identity signs. At the 2020 the question of “Is your village located in Selija?” only 50% of people responded affirmatively, but at the end of 2022 a positive answer was given by 90%. Similar trend appears regarding questions about being proud about their place of residence and whether the quality of life at the region is seen as good.
The actualisation of cultural heritage in everyday life.
As the inner identity grows even stronger, the number of local cultural events has increased. These events are directly connected to getting familiar with and displaying the cultural heritage of Selija. The number of unifying events focused on the way of life in Selija has increased. The fact that the goal is reached is also proved by the increase in the number of publications in media on the regional and state level, as well as increased number of research work done precisely in Selija.
Sustainable use of natural resources.
The development of a model of community tourism has produced an economic activity which is an alternative to intensive agriculture. It includes the production, processing and realisation of local produce. The framework of the community cooperation network promotes implementation of short supply chains, and cooperation.
The most significant goal of the project is: “Rebranding Selija” by developing the identity of the region and active cooperation network. This goal includes the change of both visual and social identity.
The project has directly contributed to aesthetic and cultural expressions, as well as to unique experience domains of the inhabitants:
- The identity signs are visually distinct and professionally developed, they are related to the environment of Selija and the views of inhabitants regarding the identity of their space. Signs are widely used in daily life, positively changing the aesthetic image of the region.
- The identity signs were developed with active participation of communities members. They were directly involved in in-depth surveying about their community, as well as defining the words, lines and colours of other communities in the joint teams.
- During the development of signs a wide and direct exchange and enrichment of cultural tradition and experience of individual identities took place. This process involved professionals from different sectors – philologists, anthropologists, planners, artists, creating synergy of represented sectors and gaining unique experience.
- The events give a unique experience of joint creation to both the target group and the invited professionals by making a diverse and inclusive social identity of Selija.
- The information space for Selija have produced a digital environment with a high-value information and modern and visual design. This environment is a source of constant support for experience exchange, new knowledge, and networking. The actuality of the digital environment is greatly characterised by the fact that during the last year the number of social media accounts for elders at the age of 70+ in Selija has noticeably increased. The basis for this trend is the fact that these accounts give an opportunity to find out what is happening in the Selija communities.
The basic goals in this context:
- Maximal involvement of the members of Selija communities, including groups of all ages, all social and national groups.
- The development of cooperation network which unites all of the communities and provides long term support.
- The strengthening of the influence of the communities on the decision making process.
All of the goals have been reached, the long term influence is ensured.
Members of 34 Selija communities actively participated in the project and all of the groups of society were represented: NGO leaders and members, entrepreneurs, farmers, local level municipal employees, long term unemployed persons, socially marginalised people, housewives, elders, young people, families with children, all in all more than 450 people. The involvement was ensured by equal, supportive culture of communication. “We do it.” In contrast: “We will do it for you.”
The principles of the cooperation network are based in a horizontal, equal cooperation. This is important to note due to the specific traditional lifestyle of Selija – the region has no specific centre, the development is sporadic, the inhabitants are focused on self-sustainable lifestyle, and a vertical system of governance has not been present in Selija in any historical period. We believe that this structure which is in accordance with the social tradition is the secret of the success and effectiveness of this network.
In the course of the project a competent, strong voice of communities has been developed. It represents the interests in the state and municipalities level. The strength of the community voice is evidenced by the developed cultural program of Selija and the fact that a high number of representatives of governmental bodies have participated in the events, as well as the fact that a representative of the association was elected in the Council of Latvian Historical Lands.
The initiator and implementer of project is a non-governmental organisation and in the course of the project a new, wider civil society organisation was created – Community cooperation network “Selijas salas”
Therefore, the civil society is the main target group and the most significant beneficiary.
The project has significantly influenced this domain in the region:
- For the first time a uniting cooperation network of communities, NGO and civic activist groups has been developed in Selija.
- A high quality, civic activity supportive information space.
- The number of NGO and active communities in Selija has increased, even the NGO that had stopped activities for a short while have been active again.
- A confident, competent voice of the civil society in Selija has been developed in the municipal and state level.
- The civil society sector of the region in the state level become known as professional, active and original. Our operation has been mentioned as an example of the best practice in Latvia and foreign countries, the representatives of the organisation regularly act as lecturers, mentors and advisers for organisation in other regions.
The direct benefits to the Selija society are:
- Increased attractiveness and recognisability of the territory. It has a positive impact on self-respect of the inhabitants and creates the basis for remigration and influx of newcomers in Selija.
- Increased recognition and tourism flow produce additional sources of incomes which provides an alternative to intensive agriculture.
- In the value system of society nature, traditional lifestyle and ethnographic heritage have gained more importance.
- The status of education has increased because the framework of the project has displayed the forms of employment that are less popular in the region.
- Visually distinct, attractive environment of the region. Clearly seen example of how much can be done with self-initiative that is replicated in each community.
Local level.
34 inhabitants of communities representing all groups of society: NGO leaders and members, entrepreneurs, farmers, local level municipal employees, long term unemployed persons, socially marginalised people, housewives, elders, young people, families with children. This aspect received additional attention to provide a quality community landscape. The representatives of the communities were involved in all on-site activities.
Regional level. Employees and councilmen of 3 municipalities actively participated in the project – both as participants, and lecturers in the discussion groups, forums and the events for development of identity signs as well as participants in the panel discussion in the framework of “Kitchen of the politics”.
State level. Leaders of governmental bodies, Members of the Latvian Parliament, ministers. The representation in the state level was ensured in both NGO forums of Selija where the Minister of Culture participated. The discussion cycle “Kitchen of the politics” was attended by the Minister of Agriculture and 14 representatives of the Latvian Parliament. The meeting between the community cooperation network “Selijas salas” and the President Egils Levits took place on the 17th of October, 2022. This meeting involved the presentation of the results of the project and the questions about the identity of the historical land of Selija.
The participation:
- Provided a comprehensive view on the real, modern identity of the communities in Selija. It provided the opportunity of developing this identity according to the region and making it explicitly viable.
- It created a direct link between municipalities and governmental bodies which made it easier to ensure the sustainability of the project results, their recognisability and operational transfer of best practice.
- It significantly increased the community representatives’ confidence in the possibility to influence the decision making process in regional and state level.
Firstly, we would like to separate the basic target groups – community members of Selija – in different fields of competencies. Inhabitants of the communities cannot be considered to be a homogeneous mass. It is a group consisting of diverse professional fields and experiences. They are:
Agriculture, craft trades, education, middle level governance of municipalities, social work, medicine, tourism, history, spatial planning, philology, economy, NGO.
The representatives of the following fields also participated in the project as experts and lecturers, as well as representatives of target groups:
Spatial planning, sociology, anthropology, arts, graphic design, journalism, philology, rural development, economy, governance, political science, tourism, history, environmental science, national defence.
The people involved in the project practically included all of the fields connected with the development of rural regions.
The involvement of representatives of different fields including the involvement of high level experts in the category of target groups ensured the comprehensive viability of the project results. One of the most significant elements of the project was the cooperation and knowledge exchange of experts from different fields which clearly displays the process where a synergy is present between different disciplines that previously operated separately.
For example, the groups “Name”, “Line” and “Color” which were formed in the process of identity sign development involved people who were not connected to these expressions in the professional level – a philologist represented the colours and lines of the specific community while the artist and environmental specialist looked for the keywords of the description of each populated area.
The effectiveness of the broad involvement is proved by the fact that the results of the projects are currently used in the studies of different scientific fields and development of educational materials.
The impact of the project is undeniably felt in the whole territory of Selija and at the level of the state.
The indicators of results and impacts:
- An organisation of uniting rural communities in Selija was formed. The number of communities as well as the level of engagement are increasing. The information space of the communities attracts more and more followers.
- On the basis of in-depth research, interviews with inhabitants, and joint development Identity signs and Identity palettes were produced for 34 communities. Signs are widely used in everyday life, proving their authenticity, and conformity to the true, unique identity of the region. Identity as a part of living, a stamp of compatibility with the land.
- Signs are widely used in the regional events – festival “Selija rotā”, Congress of Selija, TV series “They came from the Milky Way. Selija – Identity”, etc.
- A model of Community tourism was developed directly for Selija. It transforms the traditional lifestyle and values into an economic activity. The model is being implemented in practice by organising joint tourism promotions – “Home cafe days”, “Tourism conference of Selija”, “Tourism market of Selija”. Each year the number of participants in these promotions increases. New companies of craft trade, catering, and agriculture products connected with the traditional culture have appeared.
- The image of the region has been changed. Firstly, Selija is more often mentioned in the state level media. Selija is characterised at first as a historical land with its own cultural heritage, with pure, unspoiled nature, beautiful landscapes and a specific type of population, not a “grey blob” in the map of Latvia, as it was characterised a few years prior.
- By approving Culture programme for Selija, the special role of the historical land of Selija has been recognised at the state level.
The project manifests following innovations:
1) This is the first known case of a broad, sparsely populated and economically depressed region being rebranded by the initiative and action of the NGO sector. Traditionally these actions are done by the municipalities, planning regions and development agencies.
2) Traditionally rebranding only includes the visual identity, and the public image. More attention is usually paid to that how the region will look from the outside. The main attention in our project is given to the way the inhabitants see the region and the way they will manifest this image. Therefore, the rebranding is implemented in a wider sense – it includes a change in both the visual and social identity of the region. The attention is given to building the competencies of the inhabitants, developing and implementing a model of inner cooperation, maintenance of information space of high quality, and competent and respectful communication with municipalities and the state. All in all, the rebranding of Selija society happened in the course of this project, it is seen both in the everyday life of the region and the outer image of the region.
3) The innovation is seen in the approach to the development of the identity signs by actively including the representatives of the communities in this process. The approach used is “the community draws the sign”, not “someone draws it for the community”. Additionally, the synergy of the professionals and the target group in the development of visual image and symbolic basis for it is an innovative approach.
4) A new model of tourism has been developed. It is an innovative approach to increasing economic activity in a sparsely populated rural environment. In this model the realities of the region were accepted – the poor infrastructure, low level of population, the lack of recognisable tourism objects. It presents Selija as a region attractive to visitors and is also accepted among the inhabitants.
The project was implemented by using an original methodology. The closest of the currently defined methods is the method of bricolage, flexibly using all of the available resources to create new values.
The fundamental approach to implementation of any activity is “bottom-up”, in each situation making the interests of the community inhabitants a priority.
Bottom – up method is clearly manifested in the process of developing identity signs. Instead of having one identity for the whole region, identity is present for each populated area and the joint identity of the region is only created on the basis of these identities.
The used methodology has two basic goals which form the basis for using different approaches:
1) To change the visual and social identity of the region.
2) To unite the communities of the region in an effective cooperation network.
Methods used for achieving the first goal:
- In-depth interviews with the community.
- Development of identity signs.
- The development of identity palettes.
- Organisation of joint events by using the developed visual and social identity, as well as focusing on maximal involvement of the representatives of the communities.
- Ongoing information circulation and ensuring publicity in the community environment.
- Ensuring high quality and regular outer communication which includes regional and state level media, as well as municipal and government bodies.
Methods used for achieving the second goal:
- Organising training seminars, broader events, forums, discussion groups.
- Development of specific informative materials and databases.
- Ensuring supportive environment by providing advisory support.
- Coordination of community cooperation, promoting maximal sharing of resources.
- Representing cooperation network in the region, state and international level.
The project elements that can be replicated:
1. Methodology for the change of the social and visual image of sparsely populated territories (rebranding).
2. The development of identity palettes, identity signs for communities and sparsely populated areas with the approach used in the project.
3. Co-creation as the basic principle of developing identity signs. Identity is made by the community, not for it by someone else.
4. The definition of community tourism, a set of characteristics and conditions that create opportunities for economic development in sparsely populated and economically depressed territories by using tourism as the initial instrument.
5. An organisational system based on horizontal links where the involvement of each inhabitant of the community is accented.
6. Communication with state institutions based on mutual respect and empathy, the defined method of cooperation.
The results of the project have already been distributed further in the following forms:
1. They have been used by five universities - Estonian University of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Vytautas Magnus University, Latvian University of Life Science and Technology - in order to develop the Joint Master's Curriculum in Rural Community Development.
2. They have been used by Mg.sc.soc. Lolita Ozoliņa, Latvian Academy of Culture, in the PhD thesis on "The role of the communities of the intangible cultural heritage in the construction and representation of place identity. The case of Selonian region."
3. They have been used in the visual design of the largest cultural event of the region, “Selija rotā”.
4. They have been used to create the visual image and the content of the TV series “They came from the Milky Way. Selija – Identity”.
5. They have been presented in more than 20 seminars in Latvia and in at least 4 seminars of the international level.
Poverty, depopulation of rural areas
The project shows an example of how the inhabitants who are at a risk of becoming regionally and socially marginalised can successfully rebrand their territory. It has formed the basis of economic activity. The territory has become more attractive, and, as the number of visitors increases, the demand for services also increases and new types of incomes are generated. As the image of the region becomes more attractive, the value and demand for real estate in the region increases. Newcomers and remote workers are more often choosing Selija as a place to live.
Climate change.
Communities manifest the rural lifestyle as attractive and modern. The view of the inhabitants regarding the resources of the region has changed. This ensures the operation of short supply chains, sharing of resources and maximal use of local resources. Circular economy was promoted. Community tourism also increases the number of workplaces not connected to agriculture and promotes the development of organic farms.
Disinformation.
The effect of disinformation is lessened with the help of the knowledge gained in seminars, forums, discussion groups. We would like to emphasize this, because in rural region a meeting with representatives of the highest level of state is very rare.
A big impact on decreasing the disinformation has been from the information space of the community cooperation network.
Authoritarianism
The process of educating community members and creating a joint platform for representing their interests in the state level, is the biggest benefit in this context.The achievements of the project have created a situation, where the employees of the local municipalities turn to the network to influence the decision making process in the central administration. The voice of the communities has become competent and confident. Thanks to the suggestions from the community cooperation network a state level Culture programme for Selija was approved.
