EU PROGRES

The European Partnership with Municipalities Programme – EU PROGRES has published its second call for proposals within the Citizens Involvement Fund to support projects designed in partnership between local self-governments and civil society organisations and aimed at the economic empowerment of vulnerable groups in South and South West Serbia. The Programme donors, the European Union and the Government of Switzerland, have approved thirty million dinars for this activity. The details of the second call for proposals within the Citizens Involvement Fund were presented at workshops in Vranje, Leskovac and Sjenica. 

All projects must be based on the municipal sustainable development strategies and contribute to the fulfilment of one of the following priorities: enhanced employment, poverty reduction and better inclusion of the target groups in society; improved access to information, promotion of intra-community dialogue, empowerment of women and suppression of discrimination; environmental protection. 

The Citizens Involvement Fund will fund projects with up to one million dinars. The total value of a project may not exceed two million dinars and the partner organisation must secure a financial contribution of at least 10% of the value of the donor’s participation.

“As a development programme, EU PROGRES endeavours to establish good governance, i.e. embed its principles in everyday work and practice. This means that the Programme focuses on some of the main concepts of modern democratic states and societies – such as accountability/rule of law in public affairs, the efficiency and effectiveness of local administrations, civic participation and transparency in public life, as well as combating discrimination,” Good Governance Component Manager Dragan Mladenović said.

Associations and organisations, headquartered in at least one of the 25 municipalities in the EU PROGRES, are eligible to apply for the funds. The projects must be implemented within a minimum of three and a maximum of nine months, between July 2012 and March 2013. The call for proposals is open until 30 April 2012 and the application documentation and additional information are available at the EU PROGRES website:
http://www.progresprogram.org/konkursi.php?oblast=konkursi.

“Over 150 project proposals from all municipalities participating in EU PROGRES were submitted in response to the first call for proposals within the Citizens Involvement Fund in November 2010. The independent expert committee selected 40 projects. Thirty five of the projects have been successfully completed, four are in the final stage of implementation and one was not fully implemented due to a change in the project management,” Citizens Involvement Fund Administrator Biljana Kerić said.

Apart from good governance, EU PROGRES has been supporting the partner municipalities in their endeavours to improve their infrastructure, advance the quality of services they provide to the citizens and businesses and promote their development potentials. EU PROGRES has been strategically supporting the efforts the Government of Serbia has been investing in modernising the administration, bridging the gap between the more affluent and the poorer areas in the country and upholding Serbia’s EU integration.