SOŁECTWO FUND IN THE CONTEXT OF INTEGRATION AND COOPERATION IN RURAL AREAS. SŁAWA MUNICIPALITY CASE

Article refers to the constitutional principle of subsidiarity. The author assumes that this principle should be applied already at the lowest level of civic activity, in the municipality and its auxiliary units. Sołectwo it is the basic case of the auxiliary unit in Poland. The article is a case study of the Sława municipality, located in the western part of Poland. The sołectwo fund as an important form of implementation of the principle of subsidiarity has been developed for a few years in the community. The author focuses on the socio – economic aspects of the initiative. The official data that illustrate the conditions, course and consequences of the development budget of the sołectwo fund are analyzed and presented in the text. The presented data indicate that allocating a certain amount of financial resources to fulfill the tasks entrusted to sołectwo can increase their social activity and trigger civil initiatives as well. It can also give a chance that the inhabitants of a village can be interested in influencing the councils and in shaping directions of spending a commune’s money. In this way they can contribute to an increase in economic efficiency and rationality of these expenditures. The process of liberating pro-growth measures can help to improve the quality of life of inhabitants of the village.

Artykuł odnosi się do konstytucyjnej zasady pomocniczości. Autor przyjmuje założenie, że zasada ta powinna być stosowana już na najniższym szczeblu aktywności obywatelskiej, w gminie i w jej jednostkach pomocniczych. Podstawową jednostką pomocniczą w gminie wiejskiej jest sołectwo.