EU PROGRES

The one-day tournament “All Together to Victory”, with participation of basketball teams from Jablanica and Pcinja districts, was held for the first time as part of a larger project with the same name. The aim of the project is to demonstrate to young generations in Bujanovac that cultural differences should be accepted as an asset. “All Together to Victory” is one of 40 projects of the civil society whose implementation in the South and South West Serbia is financially supported by the European Union and the Government of Switzerland through the Citizens Involvement Fund (CIF) as part of PROGRES programme. This project is implemented by the Union of Sport Associations and the youth basketball club BSK – Junior from Bujanovac.

For the basketball players who took part in the multiethnic tournament, aged between seven and ten, victory was not the ultimate goal. They know that when young people act as part of a team, they can realize everything they have been dreaming of and that by joining their forces they can solve their problems in a quicker and easier way, not only during sport games, but also in other areas of life.

This spirit was reflected in the message of the Minister of Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self Government and President of the Government of Serbia Coordination Body for Bujanovac, Preševo and Medveđa, Milan Marković. After handing over cups to captains of all basketball teams, he said that everybody who came to take part was a winner and “therefore, you all have deserve cups”.

The Citizens’ Involvement Fund is part of PROGRES efforts to assist municipalities to improve observance of good governance principles, such as citizens’ participation, transparency, accountability, efficiency and respect for human rights. Through the Citizens Involvement Fund, POGRES is financing small, quality projects resulting from partnership between civil society organizations and local self-government and aimed at solving community problems.

PROGRES is being implemented in 25 municipalities in South and South West Serbia with an aim to assist partner municipalities to improve infrastructure, improve the quality of services rendered to citizens and businesses, modernize their work in accordance with the principles of good governance and promote their developmental potentials. For the implementation of PROGRES, EU will provide 14.1 million Euro, Government of Switzerland 2.5 million, while the Government of the Republic of Serbia will participate with 1.5 million Euro. Programme is implemented by the United Nations Office for Project Services - UNOPS.