The Swedish Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)and Belgrade Open School (BOS) have signed a three year long project “Civil Society for advancement of Serbia’s EU Accession”.
At least 45 civil society organisations as well as media organisations in Serbia will directly participate in this project. The aim of the project is to improve accountability and transparency of the public institutions to the wider community of Serbia and include them in the decision-making process in the context of EU-Serbia membership negotiations. The project will be carried out between October 2016 and October 2019.
“The accession to the European Union changes the legal framework as well as lives of those who live in municipalities and cities of Serbia. It is therefore essential that people in Serbia are aware of the benefits of such changes for their local communities”, said Ola Andersson, counsellor for the Swedish Development Cooperation Agency in Serbia.
Vesna Dukić, General Director of the Belgrade Open School welcomed the signing of the agreement and added that the project will enhance the way people are informed about the benefits and challenges of Serbia’s accession to the European Union: “As cities, municipalities and the local communities are the spots where actual changes are taking place, they should also be the centers of public debates about adopting and implementing the legal principles of the European Union. For this to be achieved it is necessary to develop the knowledge and capacity of the civil society in regards to process monitoring and advocacy of the interests of local communities. Only informed citizens can develop into active participants while the civil society will ensure that the voice of the local communities is acknowledged in the EU-Serbia negotiation processes”.
The cooperation between the civil society and public administration, which this project relies on, is based on a solid foundation of knowledge and argumentative debates, in line with the principles of good governance.