An experiment in rethinking social mobility
In memoriam László Bogdán
In Central and Eastern Europe, the question of social inclusion has remained a recurring policy challenge for decades. In communities facing structural disadvantage, interventions are often built around external programmes, financial support, and institutional solutions. Less often do initiatives emerge that seek to produce lasting change at the local level by relying on internal resources and community-based agency.
Author: Olga Nádra
László Bogdán, mayor of the village of Cserdi in Baranya County from 2006 until his death in 2020, attempted precisely such an experiment. His work attracted attention both in Hungary and internationally, largely because he sought to create an alternative model of local functioning in a small community marked by deep poverty.
A central element of what became known as the “Cserdi model” was the effort to move away from welfare dependence and toward a work-based community. Agricultural programmes were launched in the village with the aim not only of generating income, but also of strengthening self-sufficiency and collective responsibility. The emphasis was on ensuring that participants did not build their livelihoods exclusively on external support, but became active actors within their own economic environment.
Yet the Cserdi model cannot be understood simply as a community-building initiative. It can also be read as an attempt to reconstruct a form of social functioning that had largely disappeared.
The industrialisation and urbanisation of the second half of the twentieth century did not only transform economic structures. They also reshaped the inner workings of communities. Traditional rural systems based on mutual dependence, work, and shared responsibility gradually broke down, while the newer urban-type structures did not always provide a stable alternative for groups pushed to the margins.
One of the most important elements of Bogdán’s work was precisely his recognition of this absence. He did not merely attempt to build a community. He tried to restore operating frameworks in which work, responsibility, and community norms reinforced one another. It was an effort to recreate a system in which the individual was not an isolated actor, but part of an interdependent and cooperative structure.
In this sense, the Cserdi model may be interpreted not only as a social policy initiative, but also as a broader experiment in social reconstruction.
Another defining feature of the model was the deliberate rebuilding of norms. Bogdán’s leadership style was firm and, in many cases, openly confrontational. His programmes included initiatives aimed at shaping the attitudes of young people, including visits to prisons designed to demonstrate directly the consequences of criminal behaviour. Bogdán became nationally known in 2013 in part because of this crime-prevention programme.
These tools produced measurable short-term results. Crime declined, employment improved, and Cserdi came to be presented as a positive example in both Hungarian and international discussion. By the late 2010s, reporting on the village described a local economy in which agricultural production, employment, and public visibility had all expanded significantly. At the same time, the model was not without criticism. Some interpretations argued that the approach was excessively paternalistic, and that in certain cases it left insufficient space for individual autonomy.
This tension is precisely what makes the case so important. Social mobility and social inclusion are not exclusively economic or institutional questions. They are also questions of norms, of community functioning, and of the relationship between the individual and the collective.
Bogdán’s work also raises a further issue. To what extent can such a model be sustained over the long term, and how much does it depend on the presence of a single charismatic leader?
After his death, the leadership of the village passed to his brother, Gyula Bogdán, who stated that he wished to continue the work that had already begun. Certain elements of the Cserdi model survived. Support for education, the emphasis on community responsibility, and the work-based approach all remained present. At the same time, the internal dynamics changed. The earlier leadership model, strongly tied to one personality, gave way to a more restrained mode of operation focused on maintenance rather than expansion. External attention declined, outside support diminished, several development projects lost momentum, and the initiative itself became less dynamic.
This shift highlights how difficult it is to institutionalise local social innovations of this kind, and how heavily they may depend on individual leadership. The case of Cserdi suggests that a functioning model can survive, but that its dynamism and wider impact may diminish significantly once the personal force behind it disappears.
All this leads to a broader policy question. European development practice has traditionally been built around grant systems, standardised programmes, and administrative frameworks. Such solutions can work well in certain infrastructural and economic contexts, but they are often less effective in complex social environments where change depends above all on local dynamics, trust, and the reorganisation of community life.
Initiatives such as the Cserdi model suggest that, in some cases of social inclusion, more flexible support structures rooted in local actors may prove more effective than programmes designed exclusively from above. This does not imply replacing existing systems altogether. Rather, it points to the need to complement them with instruments that allow more room for local leadership, initiative, and adaptive solutions.
The Cserdi model should therefore not be seen simply as either a success story or a failure. It is better understood as a case study that reveals both the possibilities and the limits of local-level intervention. It is an experiment in rethinking social mobility, and a reminder that alongside economic tools, trust, norms, and community functioning also play a decisive role.
Cover photo credit: CEA Magazine
Olga Nádra is a social worker and a specialist in gerontology and mental health. She completed her studies at Kodolányi János University. She has more than fifteen years of practical experience in elderly care as well as in supporting people with psychiatric conditions. Her work is grounded in empirical insights gained in the field, through which she engages with questions related to mental health, care systems and the social welfare system. She believes strongly in lifelong learning and therefore continues to deepen her professional knowledge through ongoing training and research.
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