Sustainable development strategy in eight communities from Dealurile Târnavelor

The association comprises eight communes in Mureş, Sibiu and Braşov, but the central HQ of the GAL Dealurile Târnavelor is in Saschiz. The other communities involved are Vânători, Albeşti, Apold, Daneş in Mureş, Biertan and Laslea in Sibiu, and Buneşti from Braşov. The total value of the project is 252,000 Lei, out of which 80% are non-reimbursable funds.

PAPI Saschiz, part of creating the strategy

The specific objective of the project, writing the strategy and the local development plan of GAL Dealurile Târnavelor , was totally fulfilled by reaching the operational objectives of the programme. “The project presented the territory, the partnership and the territory’s development strategy, identified the real development needs of the Dealurile Târnavelor region and prioritised them, identified internal and external opportunities, as well as local resources (material, financial and human) in the area served by the potential GAL Dealurile Târnavelor”, Saschiz Mayor Ovidiu Şoaită and president of the GAL, says.

PAPI Saschiz had an important role in successfully implementing the project. RECL Manager Florentina Călugăr was part of the team managing the project and, as such, is the most able to conclude: “The most important development needs of the area, as resulting from the strategy, are tourism, traditional crafts and supporting subsistence farms”.

The RECL administrator was also part of the team; Paul Blotor created the association’s website, http://www.tarnava-mare.ro. He also supervised the centre’s technical equipment, which proved to be really useful for the entire project, as the centre hosted the team’s meetings.

Good practices exchanges in Romania and abroad

The working group also wrote a Local Development Plan by organising eight public consultations, one in each of the member communes. Local factors were also involved in identifying local needs and possible solutions through site visits. Good practices exchanges with similar associations in the country or abroad were also part of the plan. “The exchanges were organised with the partnership Apuseni Moutains – Ţara Moţilor and two LEADER territories in Germany: GAL Black Forest South and GAL Black Forest centre”, Florentina Călugăr says.

The strategy written by GAL Dealurile Târnavelor will be submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture, in order to declare the association as functional and able to get European funds. Those will amount to some 2.7 mln Euros. The priority projects will be those solving the development needs of the area, as indicated in the development strategy.

“The starting and functioning of the initiative to create a Local Action Group Dealurile Târnavelor was based on a “from the ground up” approach. We organised consultations and working groups to identify specific local needs, especially in the private sector in communes served by the potential GAL”, mayor Ovidiu Şoaită explains.

Online resources:

GAL Calafat, a Community of over 100,000 People