USAID HELPS MUNICIPALITIES IN SERBIA TO RESOLVE THEIR COMMON PROBLEMS BY ASSOCIATING WITH ONE ANOTHER

4. November 2011.

The city of Vranje, along with the municipalities of Bujanovac, Presevo and Vladicin Han, understood that the issues of unemployment, weak economy and a lack of the infrastructure could be resolved only by pooling their efforts and resources, as well as by   working together on the accomplishemnt of their goals. They achieved this by means of the USAID’s new Sustainable Local Development Project.

Owing to the USAID’s support, Vranje, Bujanovac, Presevo and Vladicin Han are alredy establishing an efficient tracking and measurment system, which will help them find the best solution for the faul water treatment. The city of Vranje will provide support with data processing and analysis to the three above-mentioned municipalities.

The five – year Sustainable Local Development Project, the value of which is 22 million US dollars, was launched at the beginning of 2011, with the aim of setting up partnerships among local self – governments, companies and groups of citizens.   These partners pool their resources and technical knowledge in order to cooperate on the achievement of their common goals, while the USAID provides teachnical and finacial support for the projects proposoed by partnerships. These projects may range from large infrastractural projects to small endeavours. The USAID also helps participants in the projects to obtain the cross-border cooperation funds, the EU funds, as well as other development funds.

Like Vranje, the cities of Nis and Leskovac associated with the neighboring municipalities with the aim of protecting their rivers, disposing their solid waste and constructing an international airport. They plan to develop an international market for exchanging their agricultural produce, to work on renewable sources of ernergy and water-supply projects, as well as on promotion of their products and economic potentials of the Southeastern Serbia.

Over the past ten years, the USAID cooperated with with over 100 municipalities in Serbia in the field of providing support to the local economic development and good governance, with the aim of improving the quality of the citizens’ lives. However, the USAID has made a further step with implementation of the Sustainable Local Development Project, since it helps the local self-governments to face the new challanges of development and to meet the EU access and environmental protection requirements.