From 2018 to 2022 a program titled “Poliprespa” was implemented in Prespa National Park with the cooperation of local stakeholders supported by a grant from “Stavros Niarchos Foundation” (SNF). The inhabitants of Prespa created a sustainable development model in order to keep the unique Prespa region alive.
The Society for the Protection of Prespa (SPP), the Municipality of Prespa, farmers, schools, sports and cultural clubs and locals worked together to implement the five-year program hoping that it will become a model for the development of the other protected areas as well. Environment, Economy and Society were the main pillars of this model within which interventions were made to improve the daily life of people living in Prespa and preserve the rare natural and cultural environment of the area.
The implementation of numerous actions was carried out with the maximum possible cooperation between local stakeholders. In order to ensure this cooperation after the end of the program, the creation of a multi-stakeholder committee, the Local Action Group (LAG), was foreseen to maintain the common vision and future development of the area. The LAG is an instrument for dialogue and consultation and poliprespa.gr is a tool for cooperation between the actors, for promoting their work and Prespa in general and, above all, it is a digital meeting point for people from all over the world who are interested in the Prespa.
The project, the LAG and poliprespa.gr involve: the Municipality of Prespa, the Society for the Protection of Prespa (SPP), the Agricultural Cooperative “Pelican”, schools and the cultural and sports clubs of the region. Activities and content creation is provided also by institutions and pantners outside Prespa, which have cooperated in the materialisation of projects during Poliprespa program, such as the Ephorate of Antiquities of Florina, the University of Western Macedonia, the Aristotle University, the Agency of Natural Environment and Climate Change (N.E.C.C.A) of Prespes National Park and Protected Areas of Western Macedonia, etc.