Civil society organisations and local self-governments have begun implementing five partnership projects in South West Serbia, for which the European Union and the Government of Switzerland allocated 92,000 Euro via the European PROGRES Programme’s Citizens Involvement Fund. These projects will contribute to the development of fruit-growing and thus the employment of the poorest categories of the population and improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities by facilitating their employment and advancing the existing social protection services.
A total of 20 projects to be implemented in South East and South West Serbia, worth 400,000 Euro, were approved within the first Citizens’ Involvement Fund Call within the call for proposals published in late 2014. The implementation of 15 of these projects in 12 local self-governments has already begun in South East Serbia. Four projects will be implemented in Prijepolje, Raška, Ivanjica and Brus, while the municipalities of Priboj and Nova Varoš will join forces to implement one project.
Speaking about EU PROGRES’ achievements earlier this year, EU Ambassador to Serbia Michael Davenport said that “Citizens Involvement Fund projects epitomise the European character of this Programme. Partnerships between local self-governments and non-government organisations are a cornerstone of good governance and, thus, a key European value. By joining forces, these stakeholders will contribute to the resolution of community problems in the long term”.
