The European Partnership with Municipalities Programme – PROGRES’ Steering Committee today unanimously decided to approve funding for 40 projects submitted jointly by civil society organisations and local self-governments in 25 South and South West Serbian municipalities.
The 40 projects were selected as the best among the 169 partnership projects submitted in response to the public call for project proposals to be funded through the Citizens Involvement Fund. PROGRES donors, the European Union and the Government of Switzerland, will support the implementation of the approved projects with 335,000 euros, while the 40 partner organisations will provide additional funding in the amount of 104,000 euros for the projects.
The Programme Steering Committee also provissionally approved PROGRES’ work on the implementation of important environmental projects. PROGRES will firstlysupport the project of redesigning the technical documentation for the regional landfill Banjica, in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning (MoESP) and the municipalities of Nova Varoš, Priboj, Prijepolje and Sjenica. The project aims to create the prerequisites for continuing the construction of the landfill. PROGRES and MoESP will also work together on the project of building recycling yards in Nova Varoš, Raška and Vranje.
Adriano Martins, the Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia, said that the EU would allocate an additional 600,000 euros for PROGRES activities in South Serbia, adding that the European Union has been allocating Serbia 200 million euros in grants per annum and that it wanted to use a considerable share of the funds to support the regions. Martins said that the donors were looking for high quality projects to make the best use of the funds to satisfy the huge needs, but that there was often a shortage of such projects. He encouraged the municipalities to intensify work on preparing the project proposals and the documentation.
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation Country Director Beatrice Meyer said that Switzerland’s support to South and South West Serbia did not involve only funding and that the SDC wanted to share its positive experiences in good governance with the municipalities in Serbia. This did not imply that the municipalities had to apply the Swiss model, she said, adding that SDC believed that the Serbian municipalities could apply some of the Swiss good practices and avoid the mistakes the Swiss had made.
The meeting was chaired by the representative of the Serbian Government EU Integration Office. Apart from the donors, the EU Delegation and the Government of Switzerland, it was also attended by the representatives of the ministries of the Republic of Serbia, the municipalities participating in the implementation of PROGRES, the development agencies and civil society organisations.
The implementation of PROGRES began in July 2010. The programme’s goal is to facilitate the development of 25 municipalities in the South and South West Serbia. It will assist the partner local self governments in improving their infrastructure, the quality of the services they offer citizens and businesses and their work in accordance with the principles of good governance, and in promoting their development potentials. In terms of strategy, PROGRES is compatible with the commitment of the Government of the Republic of Serbia to support balanced regional development, reform the administration and integrate the country in the European Union.
The programme is supported by the European Union (13.5 million Euros), the Government of Switzerland (2.5 million Euros) and the Government of the Republic of Serbia, which is expected to participate with at least 1.5 million Euros. PROGRES activities are also expected to secure additional funds for the development of the South and South-West, primarily from the ministries.