A team of experts will assist unemployed Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in 20 local communities in Serbia to obtain and retain employment within the social services sector.
EPTISA South East Europe, as a leader in the consortium established with CARE Deutschland-Luxemburg e.V., has been recently awarded a new contract in the Republic of Serbia: “Supporting Access to Rights, Employment and Livelihood Enhancement of Refugees and IDPs in Serbia”. The project, financed by the EU IPA programme with a total value of 1 million euro, is designed to assist in resolving the problems of refugees and IDPs in the Republic of Serbia, specifically by enhancing the capacities of unemployed IDPs to both obtain and retain employment within the social services sector.
The project expects to have a positive impact on the socio-economic status of IDPs in the Republic of Serbia. Currently, the total displaced population in Serbia amounts to 305,000 individuals and many of them have still not resolved their existential problems such as housing and employment. The unemployment rate among IDPs is notably high in comparison to the local population, and as a result of this and other problems IDPs as a group remain socially excluded. There is a continued need to provide both adequate housing and employment so that IDPs can resume their lives and be economically and socially equal to other citizens. Thus, the Delegation of the EU to the Republic of Serbia decided to finance the project that will focus on providing durable solutions for refugees and IDPs, enhancement of their living conditions and employment in Serbia.
Thanks to this technical assistance project, during the next two years, a group of experts from EPTISA will be dedicated to improve conditions for social inclusion of IDPs in 20 local communities in Serbia. In this regard, the expert Team will perform a wide variety of activities, such as: development of community based social protection services that will be run by IDP staff (home care services, day care centres and clubs); design, manage and launch a grant scheme for social inclusion, raise public awareness and deliver training for future care providers; setting up of a PMU, etc.
For more information about this project, please contact the Project Director, Mr. Sinisa Bralic at sbralic@eptisa.com