Serbia - Director of the Office for Human and Minority Rights and President of the Board of Directors of the project, Suzana Paunovic, pointed out that numerous results related to the inclusion of Roma were achieved through the project.
According to her, in addition to the project team, donors are responsible for this – the EU
Delegation, the implementing partner OSCE Mission to Serbia, line ministries, civil society organizations, but also good project management.Paunovic reminded that, in addition to continuous meetings of the Steering Board, there is also a cross-sectoral working group within the project, which had a large number of important tasks ahead of it, such as establishing clear criteria for the selection of 20 local self-governments in which the project will be implemented and setting standards for the work of mobile teams.
The cross-sectoral working group, she added, monitors the entire project and the work of mobile teams for Roma inclusion.
Paunovic, pointing out that the achieved results relate to the sphere of securing personal documents, stated that we will no longer have to deal with these issues because this issue has been very successfully resolved.
The issue of identity documents is regulated not only through laws, but it is also possible for more than 20,000 people to obtain identity documents.
As part of the project, the legal teams of the partner organization "Praxis" made over 200 field visits in 90 municipalities across the country and initiated a total of 969 administrative and court procedures for subsequent registration in the birth registers, Paunovic specified.
She noted that education is a prerequisite for getting out of poverty, which members of the Roma national minority most often face.
According to her, that is why numerous initiatives have been launched through the project, such as the introduction of pedagogical assistants in the work of mobile teams, with the support of which 1,279 children have been enrolled in preschool institutions.
She stated that the first year of the scholarship program for high school students was successfully completed, and added that 500 Roma students received backlog scholarships from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, with the expectation that another 500 scholarships will be distributed within the new competition announced within the project.
Also, Paunovic said that thanks to the Ministry of Health, the problem related to resolving the status of health mediators was successfully overcome.
She also reminded of the awards given to the best practices in the employment of Roma, for 18 companies that will employ more than 60 Roma, and the support consists of equipment, assistance from experts and professional training, while the total value of the equipment that will be donated is approximately 360,000 euros.
According to her, at the request of Deputy Prime Minister Zorana Mihajlovic, who is authorized to coordinate the process of Roma inclusion in Serbia, experts have been hired in the field of housing to assist the working group in the preparation of draft legislation on evictions (forced displacement).
Through the tender, she added, a company was selected that began the preparation of technical documentation for the purpose of improving substandard Roma settlements in 15 municipalities, and currently 13 urban plans are being developed in 11 municipalities.
Paunovic reminded that the Guide for the Formation of Mobile Teams has been published, which will be distributed by the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM) to local self-governments in Serbia.
According to her, good practice will be transferred to 20 municipalities in Serbia in accordance with the Operational Conclusions of the Seminar with the European Commission on Social Inclusion of Roma and Roma in other local self-governments in Serbia.
As an important mechanism for monitoring Roma inclusion in Serbia, which is also envisaged by the Action Plan for Chapter 23, she emphasized the cooperation with the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia on the development and takeover of the Database for Monitoring the Results of Roma Inclusion Measures, which was developed within the project.
In this regard, she added, laptops and trainings for coordinators of mobile teams for entering data into the future database were provided.
The members of the Board of Directors unanimously adopted the proposal to extend the implementation for a period of six months, in order to complete the processes that have been started.
The representative of the EU Delegation to Serbia, Ana Milenic, stated that she considers the expansion of the project to be justified, bearing in mind that this, as she assessed, is the most complex project funded by the EU when it comes to Roma inclusion.
The Head of the Department for Democratization of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Jan Lueneburg, praised the cooperation of all partners in the project.
The project manager from the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Lloyd Tudik, informed the attendees about the process of reaching the results that Paunovic spoke about, while the program of free legal aid to the Roma and the subsequent registration in the registry of the members of the Board of Directors was presented by the director of the civil society organization Praksis, Ivanka Kostic.
The project "Here We Are Together - European Support for Roma Inclusion" provides support to the institutions of the Republic of Serbia in improving the position of Roma in the areas of access to fundamental rights, civic participation, labor market, education, health, social protection, adequate housing and creation of sustainable jobs through technical assistance to the implementation of the project proposal for social development of the Government of the Republic of Serbia.
The project is funded by the European Union and implemented by the OSCE Mission to Serbia in coordination with the Office for Human and Minority Rights of the Government of the Republic of Serbia.
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