32 local projects in the field of social protection and Roma inclusion approved

On September 12, 2024, the Supervisory board of the project "Support to sustainable community-based social services and inclusion policies at the local level", financed by the European Union made a Decision to finance 32 projects from 28 local governments, with the aim of improving the quality of social protection services and Roma inclusion measures at the local level.

Support is distributed through two lots:

Lot 1 - Social protection services within which 19 projects are supported in the following local governments: Topola, Opovo, Temerin, Ruma, Veliko Gradište, Rekovac, Bač, Novi Kneževac, Razanj, Sečanj, Ćuprija, Bosilegrad, Surdulica, Medveđa, Žitorađa, Sremska Mitrovica, Novi Pazar, Loznica and Pirot

Lot 2 - Inclusion of Roma within which 13 projects are supported in the following local governments: Žabalj, Veliko Gradište, Vrnjačka Banja, Opovo, Bačka Palanka, Ćuprija, Raška, Kragujevac, Novi Pazar, Sombor, Kraljevo, Mladenovac i Zvezdara.

Through the implementation of this grant scheme, social services and Roma inclusion measures in local communities will be further improved. Projects will last for one year, with the overall fund for the implementation of the grant scheme is EUR 2,211,620.00, for Lot 1 - EUR 1,544,791.00, while for Lot 2 – EUR 666,829.00.

The grant value per individual project for Lot 1 was from 40,000 EUR to 100,000 EUR per project, while for Lot 2 the minimum amount was 40,000 EUR and the maximum was 60,000 EUR.

“Support to sustainable community-based social services and inclusion policies at the local level” is a three-year project financed by the European Union within the IPA 2020, with a total value of 6.5 million euros. The contracting authority is the Ministry of Finance - Sector for contracting and financing EU programs, the responsible ministry for project implementation is the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, while the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM) is in charge of project implementation.