Local communities in Klaipėda region: did they succeeded?

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Seniūnas; Vietinė bendruomenė; Klaipėdos kraštas [Klaipeda region]; Sub-elder; Local community; Klaipėda Region.

ENThis paper analyses a problem of local community inactivity in Lithuania, especially in Lithuania's cities and towns. For this reason we have analyzed sub-elders activities in Klaipėda Region. We analyzed scientific literature and some government documents about this problem. We have done three surveys: interviews with sub-elders, interviews with residents and qualitative analysis of subelders activity reports. We found that some residents did not know about sub-elder duties. Vast majority of the respondents did not imagine how sub-elders could promote the community spirit, especially when the activities are not funded. Different view was seen when we talked with subelders personally. Sub-elders said that they did such things as building new playgrounds, installing necessary road signs or organizing activities for the locals. As seen from the sub-elders' reports, they were mainly concerned with and initiated children's safe leisure activities and took care of the issues of playgrounds and tree trimming. The analysis of the reports showed that the sub-elders also submitted applications to get funding for specific projects. Main conclusion from this reasearch is that while sub-elders can help local residents a lot, they have to be very active. [From the publication]