On Thursday, February 7, 2019, the City Administration of the City of Smederevo hosted a conference where the project “LSG 4 LAP – Durable Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons and Returnees through Partnership” was presented.
The project is jointly implemented by the Initiative for Development and Cooperation (IDC), Smederevo City and Municipalities of Smederevska Palanka, Velika Plana and Kovin. The project is funded by the European Union through the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia within the framework of the EU Support to Sustainable Solutions for Internally Displaced and Reintegrated Returnees Program in the total value of € 5.65 million.
The participants were addressed by the Mayor of Smederevo, Dr Jasna Avramović, as well as Mr. Ivan Gerginov, from the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia, who spoke about the importance of regional cooperation and donor support for improving the living conditions of socially vulnerable groups at the local level.
Representatives of the City of Smederevo and the municipalities of Smederevska Palanka, Velika Plana and Kovin presented the role and significance of this project for the population of their local self-governments. They invited their fellow citizens to get informed on the opened public calls for internally displaced persons and returnees through the readmission agreement for the granting of aid in the form of building materials packages and economic empowerment packages via websites and LSG info boards. Trustees for refugees and migrants, are also at disposal to all interested to apply, and provide them with support in the process of applying.
Public calls for granting aid in the form of building materials and economic empowerment packages are opened until March 4, 2019, and calls for support in the purchase of rural households for internally displaced persons and returnees under the readmission agreement will be opened soon.
The project “LSG 4 LAP – Durable Solutions for IDPs and Returnees through Partnership” is based on a regional approach and tends to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable families from the territory of these four local self-governments. 48 internally displaced families and returnees under the Readmission Agreement will be provided with permanent housing solutions, 13 families out of these with housing solutions through the purchase of a rural households and a small grant for the adaptation and furnishing of the household, while 35 families will be provided with the purchase of building materials packages for the adaptation of existing housing conditions. Within the project, 40 beneficiaries will receive assistance in the form of an economic empowerment package, consisting of training and grants for the acquisition of fixed assets for starting a business