CLC-Conference-Proceeding-2018

the citizen’s new situation, a new sensibility in
their responsibility to the local community and
surrounding areas, because the people who
would be making decisions would increasingly
be the main beneficiaries and the ones affected
by their successes and failures.
Participation must be an essential
element of development. The right of the entire
population to decide on something that will
influence their lives implies a distribution of
power in the society and the transformation of
the concept of development.
It is obvious that to be able to increase
participation in the decision-making process
from below, the social players must be educated,
committed and directly involved in the local
development process in their territory.
Participation may be understood as a voluntary
process assumed by a group of people,
consciously, with the purpose of achieving
certain goals of collective interest and
developing ideas and joint action among
participants. Determination of participation is
the response to a decision and a personal
commitment.
The fundamental aspects to promote local
development are closely linked to improving the
territory’s material conditions, as well as training
the actors involved in every step related to local
development. It is obvious that the more
prepared community members are, the more
participation there will be in the decision-making
process and all activities performed.
For Gallicchio (2004: 4), local
development needs to address certain key
aspects: a multidimensional and comprehensive
approach—one that is defined by the ability to
coordinate the local with the global and by a
process that requires development actors geared
toward cooperation and negotiation among these
same actors.
In order to attain a satisfactory result,
based on the above, cooperation must be
established between the local level and other
actors at different levels (regional, national and
international).
For Enriquez, local development has the
following connotations: it constitutes a process
of dialogue among agents—sectors and forces
that interact within a specific territory, which
contributes to boosting the common
development project with real citizen
participation. This implies generating economic
growth, equality, social and cultural change,
ecological sustainability, gender perspective, and
spatial and territorial quality and balance. This
contributes to improving the quality of life for
each and every family and citizen living in the
territory, and thus, will assist in the country’s
development. In so doing, the challenges from
globalization and the transformations caused by
the international economy can be faced
satisfactorily (Enriquez, 2003).
The importance local development has as
a necessary tool in the close relationship between
local agents and regional, national, and
international agents is proved.
According to Garofoli, quoted by Boisier
(1999: 13-14): “Endogenous development
effectively means the ability to transform the
socioeconomic system; the ability to react to
outside challenges; the promotion of social
learning; and the ability to introduce specific
types of social regulation on a local level that
facilitate the development of these
characteristics. In other words, endogenous
development is the ability to innovate on a local
level.”