Citizens Want Better Roads and Developed Agriculture
20 December 2013, ProkupljeIn the view of the citizens of 34 municipalities in South and South West Serbia, the economic growth of this part of the country should in the future be based on the development of agriculture, cattle-breeding, tourism and of the hospitality and light industries. They also think that most of the money in the local budgets should be spent on assisting farmers, building and repairing roads, developing water and sewage pipelines, helping small- and medium-sized enterprises and improving the health care system. These are some of the results of a Citizens Satisfaction Survey conducted in the 34 South and South West Serbian municipalities by the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID), with the financial support of the European Union and the Government of Switzerland through the European Partnership with Municipalities Programme EU PROGRES.
The Survey aimed to establish how satisfied the citizens were with the services of the local self-governments and their cooperation with the public in addressing problems; how much they trusted the local institutions and how they rated the integrity of the public officials; what they thought of the self-governments’ efforts to keep the streets clean, maintain law and order, supply them with water and sewage; what the citizens thought of corruption and local safety and security, etc. The Survey results were publicly presented at events in Vranje, Bela Palanka, Leskovac and Novi Pazar in December 2013 and can serve as guidelines to local self-governments to improve their response to the residents’ needs.
“The Survey showed that the citizens want to see improvements in the local infrastructure, such as the building of new and repair of existing roads, water and sewage systems, as well as better health care and education. Most are satisfied with the accessibility of shops (53%), banks and money exchange shops (51%), solidarity and willingness of others to help (64%) and their safety and security in their places of residence (57%), CeSID Executive Director Marko Blagojević has said.
Citizens in South and South West Serbia are affected the most by low living standards: 43% claim that their and their families’ lives are unbearable or almost unbearable; 44% of the respondents do not have steady jobs. Nearly half of the residents have less than 10,000 RSD a month to make ends meet, while another quarter have to get by with less than 20,000 RSD a month. The Survey showed that as many as 60% of the respondents were dissatisfied with the lives they were living and that only 15% of them were satisfied.
“This year’s Survey was characterised by lack of information in a way. It shows that the citizens are not familiar enough with the work of their local self-governments and with municipal budget allocations and spending (85% of the respondents). One-third of the respondents admit they do not know anything about municipal procedures, while 54% of them do not know who they can complain to if they are dissatisfied with the work of the municipal staff. More transparency – that is the citizens’ first requirement to local governments of municipalities covered by this year’s Survey”, Blagojević has said.
Over half of the respondents do not think about corruption in local self-governments, but perceptions that municipal staff can be bribed are still widespread, although only a few of the respondents had personally experienced corruption. The residents of Bujanovac and Bosilegrad trust their municipal staff the most, while the residents of Vladičin Han have expressed the most scepticism about their work. Rather than bribing the staff with money, the citizens mostly “corrupt” them by giving them alcohol, sweets or small presents to thank them for doing their job well and fast.
The Survey was conducted on a representative sample of 8,378 adult citizens and covered the following local self-governments: Leskovac, Bojnik, Crna Trava, Lebane, Vlasotince and Medveđa (Jablanica District), Priboj, Prijepolje, Novu Varoš and Sjenica (Zlatibor District), Ivanjica (Moravica District), Novi Pazar, Tutin and Raška (Raška District), Vranje, Surdulica, Bosilegrad, Bujanovac, Preševo, Vladičin Han and Trgovište (Pčinj District), Kuršumlija, Blace, Prokuplje and Žitorađa (Toplica District); Brus (Rasin District), Gadžin Han, Aleksinac, Doljevac, Svrljig and Merošina (Nišava District), Knjaževac (Zaječar District), Bela Palanka and Babušnica (Pirot District). The Survey covered 25 local governments in the EU PROGRES Area of Responsibility and the nine local self-governments in the Rasin, Nišava, Zaječar and Pirot Districts to be included in the Area of Responsibility of the next development programme that will be launched upon the completion of EU PROGRES.