Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Sem Fabrizi awarded the authors of best entries submitted in the contest “Together We Can Do More”, launched within the EU-funded EUR5.4-million-worth project EU Support for Inclusive Society.
The conference marking the completion of the project, implemented by the EU Delegation to Serbia in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, highlighted the results of the initiative which brought direct benefits to nearly 10,000 people in Serbia.
This was “an important and successful initiative undertaken jointly by the EU and Serbia in the past two years,” Fabrizi said.
The EU has granted over EUR5.4 million in support of measures in the area of social inclusion, Fabrizi said, pointing to the importance of inclusion in the context of Serbia’s EU accession.
The two-year initiative has been undertaken through 28 separate projects in 76 towns and municipalities in Serbia.
State Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs Nenad Nerić said that vulnerable groups should be provided with “wider support from the society” and that social inclusion, which is the right of all citizens, was the part and parcel of Serbia’s development policy.
Following a series of short films about the project, beneficiaries of the project shared their experience. A project aimed at supporting the inclusion of Roma in the area of education – Knowledge is Power – which brought direct benefits to 2,500 beneficiaries, was highlighted as an example of good practice. The conference also underlined the positive outcomes of 196 training sessions held in the area of Roma inclusion alone.
Together We Can Do More contest, launched in late October, was aimed at graphic artists and open to all Serbian citizens who wanted to graphically represent the concept of social inclusion of vulnerable groups.
63 authors submitted 83 entries to the contest.
19 entries have been selected by an expert jury, whereas one entry was chosen via voting on Facebook.
The first prize went to Dragana Ilic for her work titled Inclusion is not scary. Ignorance is. She received a EUR800 award. The winners of the second and the third award received EUR600 and EUR500, respectively.
The contest was organised by the EU Support for Social Inclusion project team and the EU Info Centre.
An exhibition featuring awarded entries will be mounted at the EU Info Centre in December, followed by Zrenjanin and other towns across Serbia.
source: The EU Delegation