Support to Civil Society in Serbia

The two leading Serbian NGOs, i.e. European Movement in Serbia (EMinS in further text) and Expert Network, joined forces in a Consortium in order to effectively assist the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR in further text) in decisively contributing to upgrading capacity and facilitating the process of empowerment of civil society sector in the regions of Eastern and Western Serbia. The above mentioned Consortium will, in the concerted and structured effort, systematically strive to upgrade existing and help promote sustainable growth of the third sector in the areas of the Republic which have been neglected in the past, particularly by international donor-driven programs. Both members of the Consortium have proven experience, as measured by achievements on the ground in building up sustainable networks of third sector organizations and helping civic society initiatives grow into full scale NGOs with developed projects portfolio, tackling the priority development-related issues in their respective local communities.

The Consortium will be focused, during the course of the project implementation, on enhancing abilities of the citizens of the underdeveloped and deprived municipalities to interact with local authorities and vice versa. This is of utmost importance for consolidation of democratic processes in the respective regions which have been lagging behind the rest of the country in the terms of civic engagement in the public affairs and accountability of the elected local governments. In addition, the Consortium will be able to help local officials to realize the role of the third sector organizations accepting them as equal partners in pursuing the development of overall local community and improving the well-being of the citizens. In order to achieve this goal appropriate capacity building in terms of equipment available to the local NGOs, which will be supplied under the designated fund will be of the utmost importance, strengthening the abilities to communicate and interact with each other, the Government and citizens.

Utilizing in a concerted manner the combined human resource capacity of the Consortium (network of 103 Expert Network offices and 31 Local Council of the EMinS) and its ability to directly reach out to the respective communities, the Consortium has actively undertaken the effort to identify and select the most appropriate candidates to undergo the ToT program. In this respect the Consortium has outlined the basic profile requirements for the potential ToT candidates and subsequently solicited this information and the project purpose within the potentially interested NGO communities in the target region.

Relying on existing organizational structures of the Consortium members adapted for the purposes of the Project implementation and in close collaboration with the Central Project Office (CPO) situated in Belgrade, training of the NGO activists in target municipalities will be organized and coordinated with the support of Main Field Offices (MFOs) and Project Support Offices (PSOs).

The project activities extend to the following:

1. Training program:
   1. a) Training of Trainers
   2. b) Training of NGO activists
2. Provision of technical assistance and equipment to NGOs and/or MFOs if applicable
3. Preparation, organization and execution of seminars and workshops for NGOs and Local Administration
4. Management and provision of grants to NGOs and/or NGOs and Local Administration (joint projects)

Target groups

Taking into consideration all relevant facts and factors that led to the ambient in which citizens of Serbia are currently living in, it can be assumed that almost all levels of society (social, cultural, educational levels, etc) could be treated as the ultimate target groups. However, the focus must be placed on the most vulnerable parts of the society: women, children and elderly people, disabled (most of them victims of the last wars), national (ethnic) minorities, social cases and unemployed. These target groups and their problems must be approached generally, being the main problems of the country, but they also have to be treated locally, due to the fact that the local community is the most competent to recognize and understand the problems and initiate their resolving.

Target Areas

For the purpose of more operational and functional realization of the project covering 50 municipalities (Sid, Sremska Mitrovica, Bogatic, Sabac, Loznica, Vladimirci, Koceljeva, Ub, Ljig, Mionica, Kosjeric, Bajina Basta, Pozega, Uzice, Cajetina, Arilje, Priboj, Nova Varos, Prijepolje, Sjenica, Raska, Novi Pazar, Tutin, Brus, Blace, Prokuplje, Kursumlija, Zitoradja, Bojnik, Trgoviste, Bosilegrad, Surdulica, Crna Trava, Dimitrovgrad, Babusnica, Pirot, Bela Palanka, Knjazevac, Sokobanja, Boljevac, Zajecar, Bor, Negotin, Majdanpek i Kladovo) Consortium selected five Main Field Offices and five Project Support Offices.

Main Field Offices (MFOs)

Aware of the fact that an efficient management of a project of such magnitude cannot be performed in a centralized manner, the Consortium partners propose allocation of certain duties and responsibilities to the designated local offices, to be called Main Field Offices.

Main Field Offices in the five areas are the following:

• Expert Network: Sabac, Uzice, Kursumlija
• EMinS: Pirot, Majdanpek

Project Support Offices (PSOs)

The PSOs support any and all activities of the program, upon need and request of the MFOs, CPO and MC.

PSOs in the designated five areas are the following:

• Expert Network: Valjevo, Novi Pazar, Prokuplje, Surdulica, Zajecar