The deteriorating demographic situation of many rural local governments means that they are faced with the challenge of how to carry out their own tasks and provide basic public services while revenues are declining and their ability to finance their development is increasingly limited. This chapter mainly addresses the question of how governments (both at central and subnational level) are responding to the growing crisis. In order to examine the possible strategies for dealing with this problem on the example of Poland, it is first necessary to take a nuanced look at the term “rural municipality”, as the economic health of rural municipalities depends largely on their geographical location. Depopulation is a problem primarily for those rural municipalities which are located on the periphery of large cities or important transport routes. This chapter contains a diagnosis of the condition of Polish local government in rural areas, presents an analysis of the problems it currently faces and outlines the possible strategies for responding to this crisis, along with an assessment of the importance of each of these strategies. It differentiates between top-down and bottom-up processes. Among these, the processes of voluntary cooperation between local governments, which is stimulated by a system of financial incentives from the central government and the European Union, are becoming increasingly important.