As part of the research and evaluation of different projects and models on the theme of immigrant entrepreneurship, the European Commission has included the Project of Rural and Agricultural Integration in Supportive Environment (RAISE), jointly conducted by the Foundation Ana and Vlade Divac, UniCredit Foundation and UniCredit Bank, in cooperation with the Novi Sad humanitarian centre, among the 20 best projects in Europe in the field of promoting and supporting entrepreneurship and integration of refugees and internally displaced persons.
RAISE has been implemented in the period from 2009 to 2012 and included 140 refugee families and internally displaced persons from the Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and AP Kosovo, which until then had lived in collective centres. The goal was to provide them with the necessary conditions and support to start their own business in order to thus integrate into the local community in which they live. Ana Koeshall, director of the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation expressed it content. Maurizio Carrara, Chairman of UniCredit Foundation, on this occasion said: “The award is a confirmation of the EC for the support a variety of initiatives in the territories where we operate.”