At its session on July 9, 2021, the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Program for the Reform of the Local Self-Government System in the Republic of Serbia for the period from 2021 to 2025.
For the first time, the local self-government in Serbia received a public policy document which plans the strategic development of the area of local self-government system reform for a five-year period, with an action plan for the first three years of implementation.
The vision of the Program is a modern, professional, efficient, and responsible local self-government, and the planned activities, goals, and measures are determined on the basis of previously considered needs. The program will contribute to the improvement of the legal and organizational framework, professionalization, efficiency, and modernization of all aspects of the functioning of local self-government. Also, the document will contribute to strengthening the transparency and participation of citizens in the management of public affairs, as well as local authorities in defining public policies and regulations, the capacity of institutions and officials, as well as better service to citizens and the economy at the local level.
The Local Self-Government Program is an integral part of the Public Administration Reform Strategy for the period from 2021 to 2030, and the analytical basis for drafting this document is the Baseline for drafting the Local Self-Government Reform Program, adopted by the Public Administration Reform Council, as well as numerous analyzes made by the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM) in previous years, which identified key problems, causes of problems and possible solutions that would result in improving local self-government and capacity building of LSGs.
The preparation of the Program Proposal was preceded by consultative cooperation with all relevant representatives of the relevant ministries, the scientific academic community, civil society, and the non-governmental sector.
The process of preparation of the Proposal of the Program for Reform of the Local Self-Government System in the Republic of Serbia and the Action Plan for the implementation of this program was supported by the projects "Support to the Implementation of the Action Plan of the Public Administration Reform Strategy - Local Self-Government Reform 2016-2019" and "Local Self-Government for the 21st Century". These two projects are implemented by the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government in cooperation with the Republic Secretariat for Public Policies and the SCTM, with the financial support of the Government of Switzerland and by the Project "Institutional Support of the SCTM - Third Phase", implemented by the SCTM, with the financial support of the Government of Switzerland.