EU PROGRES

Swiss Ambassador to the Republic of Serbia H.E. Erwin Hofer and Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Serbia Mr. Adriano Martins presented the agreements on the allocation of grants for the implementation of twenty small-scale projects in South West Serbia during their visit to Novi Pazar today. 

These projects were selected as the best among those submitted in response to a public call for project proposals to be funded from the Citizens Involvement Fund (CIF), organised in December 2010 and January 2011 by the European Partnership with Municipalities Programme PROGRES. The twenty projects, the implementation of which is supported through CIF, are the result of partnerships between civil society organisations and local self-governments and all of them aim at effecting positive changes in their local communities.

“These projects are specific examples of cooperation between local administrations and civil society, examples of private public partnership. Private public partnership and cooperation between the citizens and the institutions are indeed the best way to achieve the desired changes in society,” Ambassador Hofer said at the ceremony.

Reaffirming the EU’s commitment to continue supporting the development of South West Serbia and improve the quality of lives of its citizens, Mr. Martins added: “I am glad we have the opportunity to support organisations close to the citizens. Supporting citizens is the essence of all EU activities in Serbia”.

Over half of the projects to be funded aim at improving the position of young people and marginalised social groups. A number of projects focus on the promotion of gender equality and environmental protection.

The European Union and the Government of Switzerland will earmark 170,000 euros to fund the selected projects. Apart from these twenty projects in South West Serbia, twenty other projects in South Serbia will also be supported through PROGRES. Another public invitation for project proposals to be funded from the Citizens Involvement Fund is to be issued in early 2012.

Funding of projects via the Citizens Involvement Fund is an integral part of PROGRES’ efforts to help municipalities improve their abidance by the good governance principles: citizens participation, transparency, accountability, efficiency and respect of human rights. Furthermore, PROGRES will help municipalities improve their infrastructure, the quality of services they are providing the citizens and companies and promote their development potentials. The implementation of the Programme is supported by the European Union (14.1 million euros), the Government of Switzerland (2.5 million euros) and the Government of the Republic of Serbia (1.5 million euros).

During their joint visit to Novi Pazar with the OSCE and Belgian Ambassadors and the representatives of the US Embassy yesterday and today, Ambassador Hofer and Mr. Martins met the Novi Pazar Mayor, representatives of the civil society and media and paid visits to the two Novi Pazar universities.

Mr. Martins also met with the representatives of the Sandzak Economic Development Agency (SEDA) and the business community.

Additional Information: the list of all organisations in South West Serbia the projects of which are supported via the Citizens Involvement Fund.