The document „Programme of Restoring the Slovak Village, rev. 1996“ was approved by the Decree of the Slovak Government No. 222, dated 25 March, 1997. Pursuant to this Decree the Programme of Restoring the Slovak Village started at the beginning of 1998.  
 

Programme of Restoring the Slovak Village represents an open, dynamic, developing process within which   self-government and  village citizens or groups of villages - microregion with the help of the state and experts plan,   design  and execute such activities that contribute to the better and prettier environment in order to achieve permanent increase of the standard of life in the village, preserving its uniqueness.

Objectives of the Programme of Restoring the Slovak Village:   
 

Basic goals of the Programme of Restoring the Slovak Village       proceed from concrete conditions of every village and are       focused especially on:       restoration of the social-demographic basis of a village  restoration and development of local cultural and social    traditions  strengthening of local and regional communities  development of the economy and employment  rational use of natural resources and production potential of the    soil  urban-architectural solution for the material environment  reconstruction and modernization of neglected housing stock  building of basic public utilities and technical infrastructure  strict observation of ecological-environmental principles in the    sphere of  protection and creation of the village environment  nature protection in the village cadastral territory  regional development on a local level.

A source of the basic support in 1998 are budget components of two involved ministries - 
the Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Slovak Republic. Other financial support is possible in the form of subsidies from the state funds focused on the policy of subsidies which have in their statute "community participation in the Programme of Restoring the Slovak Village" as one of the important criteria for subsidy granting. Implementation of the Programme in 1998 in ensured in the form of expert and financial support of the two ministries in cooperation with other ministries of the Slovak Government and with the Union of Towns and Villages in Slovakia. The year 1998 became the „0“ year for the Programme during which the Programme is tested according to Slovak rules and in Slovak conditions.  
 

Following new executive bodies were established in order to start the Programme successfully:  
 

Consultative Team  for  the Programme of Restoring the Slovak Village and    Secretariat for the Programme of Restoring the Slovak Village operating in the    Slovak Environmental Agency - the Centre for Physical Planning    and Environmental Regionalisation in Banská Bystrica  Intersectoral Commission for the Programme of Restoring the Slovak    Village appointed by the Minister of the Environment and represented by expert    supervisors of the Programme and cooperating organizations

 Subject of support of the  Programme of Restoring the Slovak Village in 1998:  

work with the population, development of the document    Programme Restoring the Village  development of the territorial-planning documentation  development of supplementary projects of a village restoration  according to the approved territorial plan or such that do not     require the territorial plan   small investment activities to improve the appearance of the    village, especially its public openm spaces and quality of the    environment  execution of educational and other activities supporting and    promoting the results of the Programme Restoring the Village,    in the community

From the total number of 2873 communities in Slovakia 794 of them participated in the Programme of Restoring the Slovak Village in 1998 and 217 of them obtained a subsidy .