1. Story of The Future on Public Policy by NGLS-ers
The Story of the Salaš
It is year 2030 and Slovakia nearly reached the western European standards. People chose to stay
at home and are able to find a quality jobs in Slovakia. The Slovak government and the public
sector are openly cooperating with private sector. Opinion polls say that Slovaks are more
satisfied about how things run in Slovakia than ever…But how on Earth has this happened?
The story began in 2010 when two bačas, Maťko and Kubko starting their studies at the National
Salaš University. Maťko is a guy full of great ideas, but struggles to turn them into reality. On the
other hand, Kubko is a hard worker, who likes things being done, no matter how hard they seem.
They both are interested in how Salaš works and did everything to master the knowledge of its
public policy. They soon learned that things are not working the way they should and wanted to
bring about a change. It is possible to produce more milk, better cheese, collect more
wool...They wanted to inspire other bača students by showing them, how things are not working,
but also how they should be fixed. They made a number of contacts, which were later used in
their efforts.
After school they worked in Senník burreu. They realized that they will not be able to change
much from their position now or in future. So they decided to found their own political party
LSB – Liberal Salaš Bačas.
They travelled all around Salaš and kept persuading fellow bačas about their vision and plans.
They concentrated their efforts on young bačas, which secured them a few seats in national
council of Salaš.
Their party MPs were different from usual council member. They were young, experts in their
fields and without previous political background. Constructive criticism, cooperation and
international experience were their working tools. Thanks to their image and presentation skills,
they soon received huge media attention and public support, that led to a creation of their own
council coalition through which they were finally able to implement the reforms that
systematically led to a fall of corruption (open debates, stricter punishments,...), support and
creation small and medium bača enterprises (innovative financial schemes, venture capital,
business angels), return of internationally experienced bačas home from abroad (tax
allowances, benefits from employers...), greater public engagement among other bačas at
Salaš.
Maťko and Kubko did not rule in Salaš forever. After the main things got fixed, they
turned their attention to development of the Next Generation Leaders of Salaš.