Public Participation in Local Development in the Opinion of Local Governments and Social Economy Entities

In the new paradigm of territorial development, an important role is attributed to the cooperation of local government units with the society, considered as a factor of local development. This cooperation is determined, among others, by engaging citizens in local matters, including through social economy entities. Local authorities of the entities of social economy perceive and evaluate this activity in a slightly different way, which is not conducive to the development of cooperation or the region. Thus, the purpose of the article is to assess the role and level of social participation in local development in the light of the opinions of local governments and entities of social economy. The following methods were used in the study: literature analysis, comparative analysis of the results of surveys carried out in the communes of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship and among social economy entities operating in this area (research was carried out in 2017-2018), inference and plus evaluations. They enabled (1) a synthetic assessment of the role and level of social involvement in local development and an indication of differences in its perception by the surveyed entities, as well as (2) formulating recommendations for improving cooperation between local governments and the society and social economy entities.