Strengthening of the capacities of civil society organisations in terms of taking an active part during creation and implementation of local Roma policies is among activities of the project “We Are Here Together – European Support for Roma Inclusion,” funded by European Union and implemented by OSCE Mission in Serbia.
Training programme comes together with mentoring and comprises two modules: representing citizens’ interests at local self-government level and active participation in citizens’ initiatives; networking and cooperation.
Within the module dealing with citizens’ interests representation and taking an active part in citizens’ initiatives, emphasis of the training was on strategic and action planning at local level (Roma Inclusion Local Action Plan), local governments and gender budgeting, grass roots citizens’ participation, monitoring and evaluation of strategic and action plans implementation, reporting on implementation of local action plans, as well as public representation and lobbying.
Trainees of the module on networking and cooperation have been trained on how to connect among themselves, establish partnership with other sectors or within Roma civil sector, and institute public relations.
Under the first module, training for South Serbian organisations was held in early October in Nis, whereas training for Central Serbian CSOs takes place from 7-9 November in Kragujevac. Organisations from Vojvodina will attend the training from 14-16 November in Novi Sad. Trainings within the second module are planned for spring 2015.
Training and mentorship programme for a total of 30 CSOs dealing with Roma inclusion is implemented in 20 pilot municipalities (Bela Palanka, Bojnik, Bujanovac, Valjevo, Vranje, Zitoradja, Knjazevac, Kovin, Koceljeva, Kragujevac, Krusevac, Leskovac, Novi Sad, Odzaci, Pancevo, Prokuplje, Smederevo, Sombor and two municipalities of the City of Belgrade – Zvezdara and Palilula).
