A total of 35 towns and municipalities get technical documentation for substandard Roma settlements

Having in mind the overall project objective - sustainable improvement of social inclusion of Roma through further investment in sustainable housing solutions, better access of Roma pupils to the education system and strengthening of national Roma inclusion mechanisms at the local level, the project continues to cooperate intensively with local self-governments of Serbia. In addition to the 14 local governments selected in the first round, the project will work with additional 21 towns and municipalities to prepare urban and technical documentation, prepare projects and improve local mechanisms for Roma inclusion in order to reach sustainable improvement of living conditions of Roma.

Based on the proposal of the project team, the decision on the selection of additional towns and municipalities was made by the Steering Committee, which, among others, consists of representatives of the Ministry of Finance, the Department for Contracting and Financing European Union Funded Programs (the contracting authority of the project), the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure and Office for Human and Minority Rights (the main beneficiary institutions of the project). The decision was made on the basis of an assessment of the situation in substandard Roma settlements and the willingness of local self-governments (project beneficiaries) to actively implement measures for Roma inclusion in line with local strategies, including those related to improving living conditions in these settlements. As the project is providing direct support to towns and municipalities with the aim of improving housing conditions, infrastructural equipment in substandard Roma settlements and social inclusion of Roma, according to the plan of activities, the project team, hired by a consortium led by KPMG d.o.o. Belgrade, will develop the necessary technical documentation to improve housing conditions in substandard Roma settlements in Serbia.

Towns and municipalities will receive the support on several levels and in different areas.

In cooperation with representatives of local self- governments and Mobile Teams for Roma inclusion, data will be collected on substandard Roma settlements. The collected data will be used to update the national GIS database on substandard Roma settlements, which is a necessary prerequisite for making investment-action decisions by the line ministry in order to improve the situation of the Roma community in Serbia.

cooperation will be the involvement of the project team in the development of technical documentation necessary for improving housing conditions, either by improving substandard Roma settlements or building housing and related facilities in new locations and thus support the social inclusion of Roma in local communities.

The third level of cooperation with local authorities will be to support local governments in the preparation of projects for applying for IPA funds, different types of training, exchange of experience and exchange of good international and local experiences and practices. Finally, through mentoring and training of Mobile teams for Roma inclusion and employees in local self-governments, the project team will contribute to improving the work of local Roma inclusion mechanisms.

Local governments receiving support through the project are: Ada, Apatin, Arandjelovac, Backa Palanka, Beocin, Boljevac, Bor, Bosilegrad, Coca, Kanjiža, Kikinda, Kostolac, Kraljevo, Lebane, Leskovac, Loznica, Negotin, Nis, Novi Pazar, Novi Now, Odzaci, Paraćin, Pirot, Smederevo, Smederevska Palanka, Sombor, Sremska Mitrovica, Subotica, Svilajnac, Sabac, Trstenik, Vlasotince, Vranje, Vrnjacka Banja and Vrsac.