Consultations with national institutions and partner organizations held

In order to enable vertical coordination and cooperation and strengthen national ownership over the key processes of the planned intervention, the Programme "PRO - Local Governance for People and Nature" organised from March 15 to 17, 2023, presentation of activities and consultations with representatives of more than 30 relevant national level institutions and organisations.

The presentations of main activities of new four-year Programme and consultations were attended by 33 representatives of the following institutions and organisations: Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Ministry of Family Welfare and Demography, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Tourism and Youth, Ministry of Education, Office of the Prime Minister, Office for IT and eGovernment, National Academy for Public Administration, Republic Institute for Social Protection, Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Institute for Mental Health, Environmental Protection Agency, Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, National Association of Youth Offices and National Youth Council.

The most important recommendation related to good governance activities refers to the use of the Local eGovernment Index (LEI) as the basis for selecting local self-governments for the Programme technical assistance. Other observations were related to the capacity building activities to LGs employees which should be regularly coordinated with NAPA and SCTM during the preparatory phases. In addition, whenever pertinent, it should be expanded on local professionals at decision-making level. Finally, provision of support to LGs in standardisation, optimisation and increased efficiency in delivering public services was recognised as important.

In conclusion of the discussion on the intervention in the field of social inclusion, it was pointed out that all activities aiming to strengthen institutional capacities for social protection should be conducted in close cooperation with SCTM, not only to avoid potential overlapping but also in terms of methodology or developed models for inter-municipal cooperation. For activities that enhance deinstitutionalisation process as well as establishment of child and family centred services, it was agreed that the intervention needs to result in models, templates, documents, guides and instructions, especially in the context of inter-sectoral or inter-municipal service, thus ensuring that lessons learned, experiences and practical tools are available to other municipalities. It was assessed as particularly important that for all activities related to support of youth and older people, a broad consultative process with local youth offices and the civil sector should be included.

In terms of activities related to environmental governance, the main suggestions were aimed at combining LGs of different development levels when selecting them for the intervention with special focus on the importance of inter-municipal cooperation, including engagement of decision makers and CSOs for the sake of sustainability. In addition, involvement of young people should be as much as possible, above all in the area of educating the population on environmental protection and climate changes.

The Programme “PRO - Local Governance for People and Nature” is jointly implemented by United Nations agencies in Serbia - UNOPS, UNICEF, UNFPA and UNEP, in cooperation with the Serbian Government, and with financial support of the Government of Switzerland.