Ever since its foundation, the Civil Unity Forum (Civil Összefogás Fórum) and Civil Union Public Benefit Foundation (Civil Összefogás Közhasznú Alapítvány), briefly CÖF-CÖKA has taken an active role in solving the social and economic problems faced by Hungary. CÖF-CÖKA has recently devoted large amounts of funds in Nógrád County to develop a Local Production Communities programme to help strengthen rural society and increase its income producing capability with the use of untapped, available capacities in agriculture. According to the plans, this county-level process will serve as a model for a social effect that will encompass the entire nation. It already directly involves several hundreds of families, with its indirect effects even more wide-ranging.
CÖF-CÖKA aims to develop a structured system that results in a tight, prosperous cooperation of agricultural integration and the members of the production chain by involving the civilian, state, and private sectors. In line with national agricultural policy, this system can serve to significantly empower the competitiveness of agricultural sectors while also contributing to improving the living standards and the standard of life of the local populace by bettering outlooks and income potential. The communities thus formed provide a foundation for effective utilization based on the cooperation of local resources by providing the coordinated and harmonized operation necessary for optimal utilization and resource management for the members of the production-manufacturing-end user chain.
In the course of the operation of the Local Production Communities, the involved bodies of the state sector participate by providing supervision. This, complemented by the productive role of the civil sector and the active work of the private sector (local families), is in itself capable of increasing capacities and providing for any missing functions. The social and economic aspects of rural agriculture will thus be renewed in an integrated manner.
The projects that make up the programme provide realistic opportunities for locals that take the form of actions with small resource requirements that effectively create value and jobs. They are built on the cooperation of the given community and on the utilization and development of existing resources with minimal resources.
There has never been an example for a similar close cooperation between civil, sate, and private sectors aimed at renewing Hungary’s rural agriculture. The objective CÖF-CÖKA has set for itself and for its communities is to revitalize the Hungarian countryside, to provide for the active operation of self-sufficient local communities, and to make high quality agricultural products a public treasure. These will form the basis of the future of agriculture.
If you would like to find out more about the Local Production Communities programme, please visit the Hungarian civilosszefogas.hu website or write to us in English at info@civilosszefogas.hu
