The Social land Programme Hungary

The Social Land programme aims to strengthen self-sufficiency and reduce reliance on social aid. It does this by helping people with no financial means to engage with agriculture, supporting production of goods, delivery to... [ view full abstract ]

The Social Land programme aims to strengthen self-sufficiency and reduce reliance on social aid. It does this by helping people with no financial means to engage with agriculture, supporting production of goods, delivery to markets, creation of retail processes, strengthening of network cooperation, and procurement of tools and equipment. There is a history of social land programmes  in Hungary going back to the period between the two World Wars.  In the early 1990s they were revived as an experimental project to combat rural poverty following the fall of communism and they have gone through significant restructuring over a quarter of a century.  Since 2011, national programme priorities have focussed more on labour market participation and less on household level production as originally envisaged. The case study investigated eight local communities participating in a Social Land programme. Innovative features include bottom up organisation designed and carried out locally (in contrast to top down public employment programmes).  Of all the INNOSI partner countries Hungary arguably has the weakest grassroots civil society culture. There is very limited involvement from civil organisations that have appeared recently in the communities studied for the Social land Programme. However, some of the local project leaders, mayors and notaries organising and executing the programme  can be seen as social entrepreneurs. Some “entrepreneurial municipalities” associated with the programme are acting like businesses  participating in production, with  examples of  locally produced goods (pasta, jam, garlic, paprika powder) being used to generate income and/or to provide resources for the community. The local leaders consider that producing food and improving the living standard are the main points of the programme, with various other benefits that can include improving the social and physical environment and passing on positive role models within families.