Local Self-Government Advisory Committee

The Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SKGO) is a national association of local governments in Serbia and stands for the identified interests of the Serbian local self-government before the central government and international partners. Through the work of the SKGO, towns and municipalitites in Serbia cooperate with state institutions and ensure participation in processes that have considerable significance for the day-to-day work of local self-government institutions.

Committee on Social Issues (one of 10 SKGO Committees) was founded in mid 2002 and tackles social policy issues that are of significance for the local authority level, by supporting towns and municipalities in defining their role in initiating new and efficient social policy. The Committee also helps with defining fiscal policy in the area of social policy at the level of towns and municipalities, and its mandate includes issues in the field of health, education, labor and employment as well. The role of the Committee proved to be particularly important in the course of the PRS preparation, since under its auspices the Local Self-Government Advisory Committee was formed, which was tasked to coordinate the work between the Government of the Republic of Serbia, ie. the line ministry, and representatives of towns and municipalities in the PRS preparation and implementation process. Through the work of the Local Self-Government Advisory Committee, towns and municipalities in Serbia were given the opportunity to comment Strategy draft texts and in this way initiate certain issues or alter the attitude of central authorities towards certain issues that are of key importance in day-to-day functioning of local self-governments.

The SKGO published the brochure “Poverty Reduction Strategy – Challenges and Opportunities at the Local Level”, in cooperation with the Deputy Prime Minister's PRS Implementation Focal Point, and with financial support provided by DFID. The brochure has two goals: to point to the most important elements of the national Strategy and to propose activities that can be contained in local level strategies.

Over the past period the SKGO has also published a large number of other publications which can directly or indirectly help local authorities in the PRS implementation, such as Local Agenda 21, How to initiate a Local Agenda 21 in my municipality, etc.

Within the Program for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development in Serbian Towns and Municipalites, the SKGO prepared the Strategy for Local Sustainable Development [ pdf ], which relies on measures identified in the PRS document. This document was adopted by Serbian towns and municipalities at the National Conference on Local Sustainable Development [ pdf ] on May 26, 2005.