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Gergely Veress, the mayor of Neauva community.
Photo by Milvus Group
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The CEEweb and Milvus Group have a common project
on sustainable rural development financed by the Dutch DOEN
Foundation. The project aims to provide a model for the implementation
of the Carpathian Convention and spread the idea in the Carpathian
Mountains. The motto of the project is to utilise local resources
for the locals’ benefits. This project is implemented
in Neauva community that consists of five villages in the
valley of Neauva river in Romania. The following interview
was made with Gergely Veress, the mayor of this community,
with special regards to the Carpathian Convention.
Did you know (hear) anything about the Carpathian Convention
before this initiative?
No, I have never heard about it before.
What do you think, what do the region’s villages
– including Neaua – need (except money) in order
to achieve sustainable development?
Besides financial support, I consider that in the case of
Neaua, the most important thing now – after seeing all
the positive and already implemented initiatives in Hungary
– is to do something jointly (in cooperation with Milvus
Group and the CEEweb) in the interest of the village. By this
I mean that we should materialize our concepts in accordance
with theirs.
As the mayor of the village, how do you see the initiative
of the CEEweb and the Milvus Group?
By all means, I have a positive attitude towards the initiative.
If I look at the village’s situation, I consider it
a noble gesture. From the part of the CEEweb, who is not even
working directly in Romania, I particularly appreciate their
enthusiastic approach. I think that everybody involved has
realised the difficult situation of the region. We appreciate
the devotion and the fact that you try to help somehow the
local community.
What do you think, will the villagers have the intention
and the persistence to push through the initiative?
I am convinced, that after the examples we have seen during
our study trip [in Hungary] and after the discussions that
followed, they will support it by all means. Everybody has
their own opinions and ideas. The Milvus Group has more practice
and experience regarding initiatives of this kind, so combining
those two elements I believe that we can achieve truly lasting
and useful results.
According to your experience, how did the community
receive this initiative?
People know now why our village was chosen for this project.
They would like to see concrete results. From the discussions
during our study trip, it became obvious that we managed to
reach the participants. This was the moment when I saw it
in the people’s eyes that they are happy that their
region was selected to implement the project. Of course there
will always be a few, who are driven by individual interests
rather than the development of the whole region. I will do
absolutely everything so that we achieve good results.
As a local politician, do you think that the Carpathian
Convention will have a long lasting effect on the development
of the communities in the whole region?
I consider the Convention itself as a valuable tool in achieving
sustainable development. Still it is just a tool which has
to be used properly in order to make a difference. I think
that the local communities usually have no experience and
human resources to use this tool adequately, and that’s
why the involvement of NGOs like the Milvus Group or CEEweb
plays a crucial role in the on-ground implementation of the
Convention.
This article by Milvus Group originally appeared at the
September 2005 issue of the
Diversity, CEEweb newsletter.
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