Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

One in four villages in Serbia, i.e. about 1,200 villages, are on the verge of disappearing. Out of ten workers who lost their jobs, six could be employed in Serbia’s rural regions. Returning to rural areas does not mean that workers have to pick up ploughs, it refers to their employment in the forestry sector, water management, services, crafts, social economy, industrial production that does not jeopardize the environmental balance.

As pointed out by Sarita Bradaš, researcher at the Centre for Democracy Foundation at the debate titled “European Policies and Rural Communities Development” held on 14 November in Novi Pazar: “Despite statistics indicating that rural areas have a higher employment rate than urban areas, over a third of the rural population is at risk of poverty”. Bradaš stated that we need to make villages good places for people to live in, and that predictability and safety are prerequisites for the mental and physical wellbeing of the population. She added that villages have a high vulnerable employment rate, consisting of the informal sector and helping household members, mostly women.

The debate in Novi Pazar was part of a set of events organized by the European Movement in Serbia and the Political Science Faculty in 17 cities across Serbia, in cooperation with the Sremska Mitrovica European Movement in Serbia and the Kraljevo European Movement in Serbia. These debates are organized within the Europe for Me project supported by the Delegation of the European Union, with the idea to launch a public discussion on issues that are relevant to Serbia in the European integration process and to provide citizens with reliable and useful information.

Source: www.emins.org