Cooperation of Neighbours
The municipalities in southern Banat – Vrsac, Bela Crkva, Plandiste and Alibunar draft an intermunicipal Social Welfare Strategy
There are 110,000 inhabitants living in the four municipalities of southern Banat:Vrsac, Bela Crkva, Plandiste and Alibunar on the territory of 60 km in diameter. Years of turning to each other in the area of social welfare and similar problems resulted in their joint drafting a Social Welfare Strategy.
The initiative started in Vrsac which has always been the centre to which the neighbouring, poorer municipalities turned to.
In parallel with the intermunicipal strategy aiming for full utilization of the existing resources, drafting of municipal Social Welfare Development Strategies took place.
“Vrsac is the centre of the region for many sectors and thus in the social policy area as well. Through development of cooperation we wished to promote new financing and planning models with a view to improving the social status of citizens” says Dragan Petrovic, director of the Social Welfare Centre in Vrsac.
Ada is the youngest child in the 11-members Roma family. His father was given a vineyard thus enabling him to earn a living. The intermunicipal Social Welfare Strategy also provides for enhancing the assistance for Roma. |
The mayors first signed a Protocol on Cooperation. The next step was establishment of municipal Coordination Boards. Target groups were identified: the elderly, the disabled, victims of violence, children and youth and the Roma population.
“Cooperation is one of the best ways to compensate for the gaps at the local level i.e. in smaller municipalities and to ensure quality services to the beneficiaries” explains Miroslav Stupar, member of the Vrsac town council and the local coordinator for the Strategy.
Municipal Social Welfare Centres and the local NGOs joined in the drafting process as partners.
Each municipality committed itself to implementing project tasks in line with the agreed dynamics of execution. Mobile teams for persons in need of urgent care, an SOS phone line and family counseling were planned in Vrsac.
A reception centre for persons in dire social need will be established in Plandiste. The “initial capital” of this centre are the experts of the home for the elderly in Staro Lece.
Alibunar, the only municipality that already had its own strategy, designed a Rehabilitation Centre in Devojacki bunar. A reception centre for children from vulnerable families and victims of violence will be located in Bela Crkva.
Further to introducing new social services, the Strategy provides for development of the existing ones such as increasing the capacity of the home assistance for the elderly. As compared to 2007, the municipality of Vrsac has earmarked RSD 10 million more in the 2008 budget for social welfare. Plandiste will allocate RSD 1 million for assistance in Strategy implementation. Part of the funds required for the implementation is also expected from the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy.
The first concrete results are to be expected in 2009. The interest for this model of organization and projects was expressed also by the municipalities of Secanj and Kovin. To that effect, the employees of the Vrsac Centre for Social Welfare are already training their colleagues from Secanj in introducing home assistance for the elderly and the single persons.
Partners in PRS Implementation 
