The European Union and Government of Switzerland have provided five and a half million Euros through European PROGRES for projects in the field of health care improvements, economic empowerment of women and informed development planning.
A decision was made on the seventh European PROGRES Steering Committee meeting to provide 1,027,240 Euros for the introduction and development of geographic information systems into 12 local self-governments in the South East and South West of Serbia and 368,000 Euros to support 48 projects in the field of women entrepreneurship.
The meeting also featured the agreement over the torrential flood protection project that includes execution of anti-erosion protection work in the basins of the rivers Raška and Pusta and development of designs for work execution in the basins of rivers Vlasina, Jošanica and Pčinja. The donors will allocate 745,000 Euros for the implementation of the entire project.
The Steering Committee also agreed on the conditions to award assistance to farmer’s associations and co-operatives. Beneficiaries will be selected by a public call and support will include a study trip to an EU country and funding up to five co-operative or association projects, which will - among other things – be able to include petty construction work and equipment procurement.
Speaking about the achieved progress, Isabel Perich, director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, estimated that the successful work of the European PROGRES owed a lot to the Swiss model of project implementation, involving close cooperation between the local and national bodies in finding solutions that meet the local citizens’ needs directly.
Graeme Tyndall, European PROGRES manager emphasized that already at this time, midway through the Programme, results are visible. “Approval of over one hundred projects will stimulate the development of local economies, and in the coming period the municipalities should focus their effort to implement activities in the field of good governance”, Tyndall added.
Attendees were familiarised with the advance of the project for the enhancement of gender equality, implemented within the European PROGRES by the UN Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Women). Crucial results that were cited were the signing the European Charter for Equality of Women and Men by 26 local self-governments and successful work in the introduction of gender sensitive budgeting in eight municipalities.
The Steering Committee confirmed its principal decision adopted at the previous meeting, regarding the approval of the projects to complete construction of the new surgical block of the Vranje Town Hospital and to construct and furbish the Emergency Room building of the Novi Pazar Health Care Centre. The Vranje project should provide for higher quality health care of 300,000 residents of the Pčinjski and Pomoravski districts. The European Union will provide 2,805,000 Euros for this investment, with the estimated participation from the Serbian Government and the City of Vranje of 1,765,000 Euros. The Novi Pazar ER service will serve over 55,000 users per year, and the value of the investment was estimated at 920,000 Euros, of which the European Union will provide 622,880 Euros. These two projects will be implemented by the Department for Contracting and Financing of European Union Funded Programmes operating with the Ministry of Finance.
The quarterly report for the period between July and September 2015 was also presented in the course of the meeting and it was emphasized that eight public calls were implemented since the beginning of the Programme, 103 projects approved and the first 5 completed.
Activities of the European PROGRES, the programme contributing to suistainable development of South and Southwest Serbia, will be supported by the European Union and the Government of Switzerland with a total of €24.46 million. The programme aims to strengthen local administrations, create a more favourable environment for the development of infrastructure and the economy and also to improve policy implementation in the field of social inclusion. Field activities are implemented by the United Nations Office for Project Services – UNOPS.
Municipalities involved in the programme – Novi Pazar, Ivanjica, Nova Varoš, Priboj, Prijepolje, Raška, Sjenica and Tutin in the Southwest of Serbia, as well as Prokuplje, Blace, Žitorađa, Kuršumlija, Leskovac, Bojnik, Vlasotince, Lebane, Medveđa, Crna Trava, Vranje, Bosilegrad, Bujanovac, Vladičin Han, Preševo, Surdulica, Trgovište, Brus, Aleksinac, Gadžin Han, Doljevac, Merošina, Svrljig, Babušnica, Bela Palanka and Knjaževac in the Southeast of the country.
An outline of projects approved at the Novi Pazar Steering Committee meeting will be available on the programme website www.europeanprogres.com as of 6 November and the media can address the Programme if detailed information is required in the meantime.
