Results of the Programme “Local Initiatives Programme for Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction – Support for the Development of Innovative Models for Social Inclusion

The goal of the Programme was to contribute to the improvement of the social inclusion of vulnerable groups, particularly those living in rural and extremely impoverished areas, through improving existing and/or creating/establishing new innovative measures, services or programmes of relevance for the social inclusion of socially excluded groups in the fields of education, employment, social welfare, health and healthcare, and housing.

The LIP 2 programme was implemented by the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit of the Government of the Republic of Serbia with support from the Government of Switzerland through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

The programme “Support for the development of innovative models for social inclusion” consisted of 9 local initiatives in three thematic areas (education, employment and social welfare), covering the territory of 11 local self-governments in two regions in Serbia: Southern and Eastern Serbia, and Šumadija and Western Serbia. The Programme ended on 2 June 2021.

The purpose of the Programme was to provide support for the partnership of local self-governments and civil society organisations with the aim of formulating, improving existing, and/or creating/establishing new innovative measures, services or programmes, their implementation, monitoring and evaluation of relevance for the social inclusion of socially excluded groups (women, youth, Roma, migrants, persons with disabilities, children and youth), and establishing cooperation with other relevant stakeholders from the public, private and civil sector, at the local and regional level.

The Programme also contributed to improving the following:

Communication mechanisms between the public, private and civil sector at the local level;
The local legal framework that enables the establishment of new innovative measures, services or programmes;
The local legal framework that enables the effective use of local budgets to improve the status of vulnerable groups;
The efficient identification of priorities for measures, programmes and activities in thematic areas of the programme;
Raising the capacities of local stakeholders in advocacy, fundraising, drafting policy proposals and public presentation;
Raising the capacities of local stakeholders in drafting Sustainability Plans for the initiatives in question.

The LIP 2 programme covered two phases.

Phase 1: Support for the development of innovative solutions (measures/services/programmes), with a four-month implementation period (June-October 2019) provided an opportunity to select local self-government units, with the financial and mentoring support by the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, to collect data and draft a detailed analysis of the problem they wish to solve, implement consultations with the target groups and relevant community stakeholders with the aim of developing/improving solutions, and draft project proposals to test the innovative solutions.

A total of 15 projects from the following local self-governments received a CHF 3,000.00 donation and mentor support with the aim of developing innovative solutions, namely: Lebane, Pirot, Bela Palanka, Raška, Novi Pazar, Majdanpek, Ražanj, Čajetina, Nova Varoš, Zaječar, Sjenica, Surdulica, Užice, Kralјevo, and Bojnik.

Under Phase 2: Support for the testing of developed innovative solutions, with a fifteen-month implementation period (May 2020 – June 2021), the select local self-government units were given the opportunity, with the financial and monitoring support of the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, to test and improve existing and/or create/establish new innovative measures, services or programmes through their implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and the drafting of sustainability plans.

A total of 9 projects from the following local self-governments received a CHF 25,000.00 donation and monitoring support with the aim of testing innovative solutions, namely: Pirot, Bela Palanka, Raška, Ražanj, Čajetina, Surdulica, Užice, Kralјevo, and Bojnik.

More information on the implemented activities by the local initiatives and their effects can be found under the project presentations and their success stories:

Some of the main results of the programme:

1 CSO received a licence from the relevant ministry for providing the service “Personal assistant to a child” (Association “Surdulica za sve” from Surdulica),
1 CSO submitted a request for a licence from the relevant ministry for providing the service “Personal assistant to a child” (Association “Te Deum” from Bela Palanka),
1 CSO was provided with support for its establishment (Association “Feniks” from Lebane),
4 local self-governments supported in drafting a Programme for the improvement of the status of persons with disabilities for the period 2021-2023 (Pirot, Raška, Bela Palanka and Užice),
Women’s agricultural-social cooperative “Ražanjke” established,
Agricultural-educational office for women “Zlatiborka” established,
9 local self-governments secured budget allocations for implementing the Sustainability Programme for measures, services and programmes established under the LIP 2 programme.

The programme activities also served to draft several brochures aimed at informing citizens on their rights and support measures available at the local level (in accordance with the normative framework in force):

Manual for planning and writing individual educational plans (IOP), city of Pirot
Trilingual publication “Benefit from Zlatibor”, municipality of Čajetina
Cookbook “Meals from the Dutch Oven”, municipality of Ražanj
Guide for emergency foster care of elderly persons, City of Kralјevo.

More information on the “Local initiatives programme for social inclusion and poverty reduction – Support for the development of innovative models for social inclusion – LIP 2“ can be found here.