"Local self-government has two choices: to order the strategy from a specialized institution, pay a lot of money for it, and get the material fast, or to choose a much slower, participatory process and develop a plan relying on local experts and assistance on outside consultants. We chose the participatory process, worked for 15 months, but now we have a strategy understood by all members of the community, who are now prepared to implement it, because they were the ones who participated in its development.” – says Atila Babi, president of Backa Topola municipality