LOCAL ACTION GROUP AS A ACTORS IN THE REGIONAL ADMINISTRATION (RESULTS OF A CASE STUDY IN THE REGION OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC)

Abstract

A membership in a Local Action Group (LAG) is the oportunity for getting financial means from the European program LEADER and in this way the LAG becomes an attractive partner of the regional development. Local Action Groups are established on the principle of partnership and a bottom-up principle supports the inclusion of local inhabitants into the solution of local problems and creates the space for cooperation and partnership. The aim of a theoretical part of the contribution is the Leader program introduction and the purpose of LAG. A practical part of the contribution is created by the results of a case study of a particular LAG. The paper come out from the study of documents, a secondary analysis of the data and from the outputs of non-standardized and semistandardized interviews with the representatives of chosen state, private and entrepreneurial subjects. An investigation of knowledge of LAG activities was carried out among citizens and acquired data were statistically evaluated. On the basis of acquired knowledge, the importance of the local action group as one of the regional administration and development agents is evaluated.