Místní akční skupina svatého Jana z Nepomuku, z.s.

The local action group Saint John of Nepomuk (herein referred to as LAG SJN) is an association of 33 local partners from the public, non-profit and business sectors who are united in their interest in the development of the rural areas of Nepomuk and Spálené Poříčí in the south part of the Pilsen Region. LAG SJN has operated in the territory of 27 municipalities with a population of 13,000 since 2007. For the development of the area, LAG SJN deploys primarily finance resources from European funds to support individual projects by local actors (applicants). Financial support is combined with activities in the fields of education, promotion and upscaling the rural area as well as activities to support social inclusion of persons with fewer opportunities. LAG SJN selects its activities from the findings of regular monitoring of problems and needs the area has. Those needs are addressed by implementation of activities using the bottom-to-top approach. Therefore, LAG SJN aims at providing the supported projects with quality content such as locally relevant and sustainable services in leisure time, formal and informal education, with the underlying focus of social integration of excluded individuals or their groups. As such, LAG SJN compensates for the absence of services in the rural area and allows persons with geographical disadvantage to plan and execute services and activities in terms of quality and local sustainability. In informal education, LAG SJN is a regular applicant/partner at Erasmus+ by organising mobilities in the area and by preparing individuals for participation in educational mobilities. Those individuals are participants in youth exchanges (age 13-30) as well as in education of adults (age 40-70). In the field of adult education, we are primarily targeting municipality councillors, farmers, representatives of associations and informal education providers, local businesses and other active natural persons. Apart from Erasmus+ activities, LAG SJN holds monthly educational activities in topics related with the rural area: sustainable local development, fruit production, processing of seasonal produce, pupil visits to organic and family farms. Day camps are organised every summer at the community centre at Spálené Poříčí. LAG SJN operates its own mobile café and a communal apple press so that local inhabitants can process their apples in the harvest season. The café and apple press also participate in regular culture and social events in the area. In formal education, LAG SJN has collaborated with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports to organise the Local Education Action Plan project (LEAP) since 2016. LEAP aims at the improvement of quality of education and conditions in schools in the area. The project operates working groups as well as discussion platforms to support cooperation of the school funders, schools and other actors in education. Suggestions presented by the teachers and school representatives are used to invite leading experts and quality speakers 3 times a week for seminars and workshops on: • Reading and mathematics competences, • Equal opportunities in education, • School management and supervision, • Digital and language competences, • Pre-school education An integral part of the project is investment planning in the schools LAG SJN supports in its calls focused on the development of key competences. LAG SJN has been focusing in long-term work with youth by organising the “Starter” grant program for young people. This program allows informal groups of young people to obtain small financial support to realise their ideas and solve local issues. In doing so, LAG SJN relates more closely young people to the place where they live, develops their social responsibility and civil competences; this effort aims at prevention of a negative phenomenon seen in the rural areas: migration of young people into the city.