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Swiss PRO
  • Government of the Republic of Serbia
  • The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
  • UNOPS
  • Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM)

News / Actualities

Best Cities and Municipalities in Applying Good Governance Principles Selected

  • Belgrade, 18 March 2020

The Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government selected Medveđa, Užice, Požarevac and Bečej for the winners of the Public Call for the 2019 Annual Award for Best Practices in Applying Good Governance Principles at the Local Level. The annual award is a form of financial support to further improvement of good governance at the local level.

The Ministry allocated total funds in the amount of RSD 10,400,000 from the Budgetary Fund for the Local Self-Government Programme, RSD 2,600,000 for awarded local self-governments, respectively. The winners will also get, in four equal lots, additional funding amounting RSD 3,840,000, allocated by the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities from the budget of the Programme "Enhancing Good Governance and Social Inclusion for Municipal Development – Swiss PRO" supported by the Swiss Government.

The National Annual Award for Best Practices in Applying Good Governance Principles at the Local Level was established in 2018 at the initiative of the Ministry, the SCTM and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), with the support of the Swiss PRO Programme. The award is presented in four categories: efficiency and effectiveness, transparency and public participation in the work of local self-government, accountability and the rule of law, and equality and anti-discrimination.

The first award in the category of Efficiency and Effectiveness was awarded to the Municipality of Medveđa, which, through the introduction of the quality management system, ensured a more efficient performance under its competence. The introduced system ensured the defining of procedures for operation, which contributed to greater efficiency and quality of provided services. This mechanism can be implemented in other local self-government as an internal support mechanism for better organization and better execution of tasks.

The first award in the category of Transparency and Public Participation in the Work of Local Self-Government was awarded to the City of Užice, which, after months of consultation with citizens, representatives of associations and local communities, set high standards in terms of citizen participation in making important decisions, above all, in determining the priorities concerning budget funds allocation, which contributes to greater accountability of decision makers in the local self-government. Thus, a lasting and sustainable partnership between citizens and the local self-government has been established for the purpose of better meeting the needs of the community.

The first award in the category of Acountaibility and the Rule of Law was awarded to the City of Požarevac, which, through the process of introducing responsible management of public property, in addition to having a general real estate database, also developed a GIS database, which is linked to the general real estate database, where by one-click on a real estate in cartographic form, one gets all the information about the respective property. The activities were also implemented through Exchange 4 and Exchange 5 Programmes, so the City of Požarevac introduced a number of innovations when it comes to property valuations and the registration of power lines.

The first award in the category of Equality and Anti-Discrimination was awarded to the Municipality of Bečej, which, through discussions with women from rural areas on their real needs and expectations, conducted a series of activities and trainings to enable the trainees to acquire skills and gain independence, primarily regarding employment and improving services for rural women. An innovative way of creating and improving the services provided by key institutions and organizations of the local self-government has been put in place. All of these activities aim at promoting gender equality, while respecting human rights, with particular emphasis on social inclusion of all vulnerable groups.

In recognition of the efforts made by local self-governments and on the grounds of the achieved results, special awards are given to the City of Vranje and the Municipality of Bela Palanka in the category of Efficiency and Effectiveness, to the Cities of Sombor and Kruševac in the category of Transparency and Public Participation in the Work of Local Self-Government, as well as to the City Municipality of Vračar and Municipality of Nova Varoš in the category of Equality and Anti-Discrimination.

The Ministry will sign grant agreements from the Budgetary Fund with the awarded local self-governments and will transfer the approved funds. Moreover, the SCTM will sign special grant agreements for the funds allocated from the Swiss PRO program budget with the awarded local self-governments.

The decision on the allocation of funds from the Budgetary Fund for the 2019 Annual Award for Best Practices in the Application of Good Governance at the Local Level can be downloaded in the document below or on the website of the Ministry.


Documents