Their elaboration includes public engagement and consultation and the strategies themselves are meant to align with the regional spatial development plan, sectoral strategies and regional programmes such as the ROP. For example, the eastern voivodeship of Podlaskie has based its regional development strategy on its competitive strengths (Box 2.4). The region overall has a lower level of development, more limited accessibility to both the rest of Poland and to its neighbours to the east, an aging population and lower skills levels than the national average, and low rates of entrepreneurship and limited economic diversification in rural areas at a time when employment in agriculture is declining. And yet, the region also has many assets and opportunities for development.