Serbia

Welcome to UNDP Serbia

United Nations Development Programme’s focus in Serbia has shifted away from a post-conflict response and toward a development-oriented agenda. In line with the CCA/UNDAF, the Country Programme Document for Serbia and Montenegro 2005-2009 seeks to advance UNDP in public administration and judicial reform, foster better access to services and rights, and promote local development to work to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in the UN system.

UNDP globally links and coordinates international and national efforts in achieving a better life for all, through engagement in five Practice Areas:

Democratic Governance
Poverty Reduction
Crisis Prevention and Recovery
Energy and Environment
HIV/AIDS

Special focus is placed on women’s empowerment and the use of Information and Communication Technologies for development .

In order to provide the best possible application of these Global Practice Areas to the citizens of Serbia, our initiatives are administered through five programme clusters, designed to be mutually supportive and regionally linked. These are: Democratic Governance, Decentralisation / Local Development, Poverty Reduction and Economic Development, Human Security, and the Policy Unit.

Democratic Governance

UNDP promotes and supports good governance and the rule of law as essential enabling elements for sustained economic growth and sustainable development. Through its work in this field, UNDP strives to improve access to justice and public administration, and develop a greater capacity to deliver services to the public.

UNDP supports national processes of democratic reform through:

1. Policy advice and technical support;
2. Strengthening capacity of institutions and individuals;
3. Advocacy, communications, and public information;
4. Promoting and brokering dialogue; and
5. Knowledge networking and sharing of good practices.

Poverty Reduction and Economic Development

Poverty Reduction and Economic Development (PRED) Cluster: UNDP is contributing to the socio-economic development of Serbia by providing services that will enable all stakeholders to maintain and improve their performance through the engagement of both the public and private sectors in this regard.

The key areas of the sustainable development cluster are the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), whose implementation is beginning in Serbia in March 2005, civil society inclusion, employment programmes such as Beautiful Serbia that aims to improve the living environment in cities and alleviate urban unemployment and the commencing Social Innovations Fund in cooperation with the European Agency for Reconstruction, as well as complementary job creation and local development programmes in Southern Serbia implemented through the Vranje project office.

The process of preparation of the DPRS (PRSP), at the request of the Government, was managed through UNDP, while the World Bank (WB) and the DFID provided leading financial support.

Human Security

In this area UNDP enables human development, to create a society in which all can exercise their choices freely and safely, in both material and psychological dimensions. The HPVPI Secretariat implements a wide portfolio of project designed to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and reduce its impact. A number of projects are designed to propose humanitarian transition solutions, especially relating to the situation of vulnerable persons such as refugees, internally displaced people and minorities. SACISCG works to stop the flow and availability of small arms and light weapons in Serbia and in Montenegro.

Policy Unit

The Policy Unit is designed to provide relevant policy services to decision makers, enhance public dialogue about reforms and promote knowledge management within the organization. It fulfills its aims through producing Human Development Reports (HDRs), strengthening the national stakeholders capacities for Millennium Development Goal (MDG) reporting, relaying national statistical data and analysis, and providing regular and ad hoc assessments of on-going reforms, with a special focus on their impact on gender issues and vulnerable groups.