Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

With the support of the Swiss PRO Programme, the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities have opened the public call for the cities, municipalities and city municipalities for participation in the National annual competition for selecting the best practice in the application of good governance principles at the local level in 2018.

The introduction of this award is one of the initiatives of the Programme that will contribute to raising the awareness of the importance of good governance, whereas the implementation of the competition by the Ministry will enable it to become a long-term measure of the Government of Serbia.

“We hope that this call will mark the beginning of a new and important period in the further improvement of organisation of local communities, and thus of the society as a whole, as well as of the quality of services provided by the public sector to citizens in business”, says Dragan Mladenović, Good Governance Advisor in the Swiss PRO Programme. He adds that this competition will encourage local self-governments, while relying on the positive legislative, to work permanently on further arranging the processes, procedures and regulations that define and realise public interest.

The annual award for the best practice is granted in four areas as follows:

• Efficiency and effectiveness,
• Transparency and the participation of the public in the local self-government work,
• Responsibility and rule of law, and
• Equality and non-discrimination.

The participants may file one application per area, but may apply in several areas (a maximum of 4 applications, one for each area). They may be awarded in only one of them, however.

“A significant aspect of this competition is the encouragement given to local self-governments by the line Ministry and SCTM, and therefore the National Annual Award should become an important mechanism and signal of the support given to good-quality initiatives at the national level. The Swiss PRO Programme is proud of the fact that it has enabled the establishment of this mechanism, which will additionally empower those who already work hard in their respective environments, send a message that breakthroughs in the improvement of work and the provision of public services are possible despite limitations and difficulties in the existing work conditions, and finally encourage others to initiate similar processes”, Mladenović adds, commenting that in this way the annual award also becomes a matter of prestige among the local self-government units.

The total funds to be allocated to the local self-governments with the best practice in the application of good governance principles within this public call amount to 12,000 USD. The winners in each of the four areas will be entitled to a financial reward in the amount of 3,000 USD.

The deadline for submitting the applications is Tuesday, 15 January 2019.

The application forms for the call can be found on the website of the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, as well as on the website of the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities.

Source: www.swisspro.org.rs