Positive communications facilitate easier and swifter societal change: they inform, educate, motivate, inspire and eventually change behaviours.
The people in South and South West Serbia, after many years of turbulence and uncertainty, live in sea of apathy and distrust, and remain reluctant to see change as a good phenomenon. An additional obstacle to efforts to achieve social change and development lies in the predominantly negative image of the South and South West Serbia. The areas are often seen as unstable, while poor infrastructure, poverty, unemployment, and other social and economic hindrances, further damage the image.
There is a pressing need to make a positive difference in the way people engage in issues that affect their lives.
Internally, to improve the image of the South and South West Serbia and thus boost morale and optimism of the citizens; externally, this will lead to improvement of opportunities for development.
With an aim to achieve above said, EU PROGRES will through the “Public Awareness and Branding of Areas” Component work in three directions. First, it will use strong communications to facilitate implementation and promote achievements of other three Programme components. Then, it will be raising awareness on important socio-economic challenges in the Programme area and encouraging citizens’ action. Finally, this Component will concentrate on building of positive images of Programme area for the purposes of promoting investments, tourism, and economic development.
