At the ceremony organized to mark the launch of the Programme “PRO – Local Governance for People and Nature”, the Acting Assistant to the Minister in the Sector for European Integration and International Cooperation of MDULS, Mila Stanković, had addressed the attendees on behalf of the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Aleksandar Martinović, PhD.
According to her, the PRO Programme shall contribute to the well-being and improvement of the quality of life of local citizens through the improvement of local governance, social inclusion and environmental protection.
“A total of 99 cities and municipalities in Šumadija, western, eastern and southern Serbia will be able to receive support under this Programme, while concrete results are planned to be achieved through capacity building of Local Self-Government Units, improvement of e-services and open data, strengthening of local Civil Society Organizations and greater participation of youth in the Green Agenda”, Stanković has said.
She added that a mechanism for measuring the quality of services will be introduced, and that the Ministry, as part of the valid Action Plan for the implementation of the Programme for the Reform of the Local Self-Government System, has, for the first time, developed a Methodology for assessing the citizens’ satisfaction with services provided by local self-governments. She also announced that as part of the PRO Programme, a public opinion survey on the level of satisfaction with the services shall be conducted at the local level.
“Services that are the top priority in terms of evaluation from the aspect of citizens’ satisfaction at the local level are administrative and utility services, as well as services from the field of education and social welfare. We are conducting the survey so that, after its completion, we can support the local self-governments in order to strengthen exactly those areas which the citizens would recognize as necessary to improve,” Stanković has said.
At the end of her opening address, Stanković thanked all partners who aid the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government in modernizing municipalities and cities in Serbia, strengthening their capacities, ensuring their better functioning and optimal use of resources. She has emphasized that the Ministry’s actions clearly demonstrate the selected strategic interest and main direction, which is to improve the application of the principles of good governance at all levels of government and economically empower society.
The PRO Programme is jointly implemented by the United Nations agencies in Serbia – UNOPS, UNICEF, UNFPA and UNEP, in cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Serbia and with the financial support of the Swiss Government. The ceremony was organized at the Aero Club in Belgrade, at which the Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, Nikola Selaković, State Secretary at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Sandra Dokić, Head of the Cooperation Department at the Embassy of Switzerland, Richard Coley, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Serbia, Françoise Jacob, and Associate Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Jelena Čeperković, also made their addresses.
Photo gallery – source: Tanjug and PRO Programme / Sanja Knežević
