4 mins
Village caretaker service as a macro-regional best practice
Gyöngyi Schwarcz
Introduction of the provision of the service
Village and homestead caretaker services were developed in Hungary in the 1990s to address the challenges faced by small villages, remote areas outside settlements and scattered farms or homesteads, but eventually spread to neighbouring countries as well. The main task of a village caretaker is to alleviate the lack of services and institutions and to protect the citizens of the smallest villages, remote areas, and scattered homesteads from the consequences of spatial and social marginalisation.
The village caretakers' main tool is a vehicle, which helps residents access basic services and facilities, such as transporting school children, picking up medicines, or taking patients and the elderly to a doctor outside of the village. In addition, the caretaker is responsible for carrying out any tasks that are needed locally, but for which there is no provider or institution (e.g. helping to organise community events, carrying out minor repairs and maintenance, etc.). As a result, the caretaker's role encompasses a wide range of tasks, from social work to rural development and community integration.
The emergence and spread of village caretaker services in Hungary
In Hungary, the first service started in 1990 as a civil initiative, invented and improved by Bertalan Kemény, a development expert committed to equal opportunities for people living in small villages and remote areas. The following year, the initiative was taken up by the Ministry of Social Affairs. In 1996, this practice was codified in an amendment to the Social Act, which allows villages with a population of fewer than 500 inhabitants to provide basic social services through the village caretakers. Over time, the service has been extended step by step to villages with a population of 1,000.
A settlement with at least 70 inhabitants on its outskirts has the right to employ homestead (farm) caretakers, each of whom is responsible for up to 400 people in remote rural areas. Today (2024), a total of 2,095 services are operating in Hungary, comprising 1,497 village caretakers and 598 homestead caretakers. They are mainly run by local governments or their micro-regional associations (96%), together with church-based or civil organisations.
Since 1999, state normative support has been provided for the operation of village caretaker services, with state subsidies available for village caretaker minibuses. In addition to developing the legal framework, an important step has been the establishment of county-level civic organisations that promote the service to small village mayors and support the caretakers?work.
Bertalan Kemény, the visionary and creator of the village and homestead caretaker service, thought about a service on a macro-regional scale from the very beginning. He wanted the service to be available to ethnic Hungarian communities living in neighbouring countries as well, and for networks to be established. Thanks to civil and religious initiatives, the service has been successfully established in Transylvania (Romania) and Vojvodina (Serbia) over the past thirty years.
On many EU borders, ambulances cannot cross the border, despite the life-threatening nature of the situation, patients cannot go to the nearest hospital as it is across the border
In 2019, the Research Institute for National Strategy launched a comprehensive research project to map the macro-regional presence of the village caretaker service, including a systematic survey of services outside Hungary.
In Transylvania, the first service was started by a Unitarian pastor in 2000 in Gălățeni. By 2019, 25 village caretaker services were operating in 28 settlements in Transylvania, some under the care of the municipality, others maintained by the Reformed or the Unitarian Church, almost one third of the services provided by the regional organisation of Caritas and some of them maintained by local civic organisations.
Spatial distribution of village and homestead caretaker services in Hungary, 2024
In Vojvodina, the first village caretaker services were established through cooperation between Hungarian village caretaker associations and Hungarian minority civil organisations. These efforts were supported by the Hungary-Serbia IPA Cross-Border Cooperation Programme. Currently, a total of 24 village caretakers operate in Vojvodina under the management of 3 different service providers, serving 55 settlements in 19 municipalities.
The village caretaker service as a macro-regional good practice
The village and farm caretaker service has become a valuable part of the social care system in Hungary through an experimental model programme, while maintaining the dual characteristics of state care and civil task implementation, allowing for a high degree of diversity and locality in the services. The service is almost exclusively maintained by local governments as part of the care system.
Interreg programme's cross-border cooperation strand, continues to bring significant added value for border regions and facilitates the provision of cross-border public services on many EU borders
In the neighbouring countries, the village caretaker service has emerged and spread as a social innovation, but it is not centrally regulated and supported. Churches and civil society organisations provide and maintain the care with the support of local or regional government and/or other subsidies.
Overall, the strength of village caretaker services in Hungary lies in institutionalised service provision, professional supervision provided by the state and also by civil organisations, and the work of professional civil organisations supporting service provision. Where this systemic support is lacking or incomplete, the existence of relationships, cooperation, different funding methods, and dedicated service provision are important and can sustain these grassroots forms of care.
Schwarcz, Gyöngyi Ethnologist PhD, senior researcher Research Institute for National Strategy