Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

The Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit of the Government of the Republic of Serbia held the introductory online workshop on November 23^rd, 2020 with the aim of providing mentoring and counseling support to towns, municipalities and town municipalities Novi Sad, Ruma, Surčin, Žitište, Raška, Kovin and Negotin in the preparation of the local action plans (LAP) for the social inclusion of the Roma for the period from 2021 to 2022. This is the first in a series of workshops that will be organized in the following period and conducted by experts in the fields of strategic planning, programme budgeting and inclusion of the Roma.

The introductory workshop consisted of work in interaction groups of the representatives of seven local self-government units (LSGs) moderated by Dubravka Velat, Rafael Pupovac and Vladimir Petrović, the experts in providing mentoring and counseling support to LSGs in the preparation of LAP.

The key challenges, such as gathering certain groups of data (in the following fields: education, employment, housing, health and social protection) were identified at the workshop.

In addition to this, certain recommendations were formulated in order to make the preparation process of LAP as efficient as possible, such as the inclusion of other relevant stakeholders in certain fields who have professional knowledge and relevant data at local level, as well as for the Roma community to be included in the process of making plans (by organizing focus groups, including the Roma health mediators, pedagogical assistants, Roma coordinators, civil society organizations and other).

Local action plans for the inclusion of the Roma are based on the Strategy for Social Inclusion of Roma in the Republic of Serbia for the period 2016-2025 and represent the important instrument for its implementation at the local level. In addition to this, the strategic and action planning enables adjustment in the changeable environment and the establishment of the best methods of using available resources.