In addition to awarding grants for the establishment of a standing, systemic and publicly accessible mechanism of legal support for citizens belonging to vulnerable groups, the Swiss PRO Programme also provided technical support to the LSGs.

During October, training for applying the methodology for functioning of Citizens’ Advisory Services, as well as for keeping records of beneficiaries, was held for law graduates who were hired to provide advisory services. In addition, a representative of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality delivered a lecture on non-discrimination to the trainees.

“Special focus should be placed on the population in rural areas, so as to enable equal access to rights for all men and women, particularly from vulnerable groups Therefore, LSGs will implement campaigns to inform vulnerable groups about new opportunities and municipal services available for the fulfilment of their rights,” highlighted during the training Nataša Ivanović, Swiss PRO Programme Officer for Social Inclusion.

With the Swiss Government support in the amount of almost 200,000 EUR Citizens’ Advisory Services have been established in Babušnica, Bela Palanka, Ćuprija, Čajetina, Knić, Krupanj, Malo Crniće, Medveđa, Rača, Svilajnac, Sjenica, Surdulica and Žagubica municipalities. Projects of these LSGs have been selected as the best ones under the Call for Proposals which was open to towns and municipalities in Šumadija, West, East and South Serbia, in the II, III and IV groups according to their level of development.

More information on the projects can be found on the webpage under the Programme results section.