The Belgrade Open School (BOS), as well as SEKO the leading organization for the development of human development and social development in partnership with the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit of the Government of the Republic of Serbia (SIPRU) and the European Integration Office of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, organized the conference "How to Improve Management of International Development Assistance?" in Belgrade on March 11, 2016 in the small Hall of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.
The conference was dedicated to the issue of improving the managing system for international development aid, and, above all, with the funds of the European Union (EU) from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA). The programming of international development assistance is a complex process of identifying needs, that is priority objectives within individual sectors, defining activities, procedures, as well as time-frames in the process of preparation and selection of project proposals that should contribute to the realization of the set goals.
Bearing in mind that the year 2016 is key for programming measures in the sector Human Resources Development and Social Development (education, employment, social inclusion and health), SEKO for human resources development and social development (coordinated by Belgrade Open School, European Movement in Serbia , Smart Collective, Foundation Center for Democracy and the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence), through numerous activities, even through a conference, strives to provide full support to state institutions and to actively participate in this process. The conference brought together relevant representatives of state institutions, donors and the international community and representatives of civil society.
The opening speech at the Conference was given by Ksenija Milenković, Director of the Office for European Integration, Aleksandra Miletić, Head of the Group for preparation of the projects funded by the EU in Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, and Milorad Bjeletić, Executive Director of BOS.
At the panel discussion "Sectoral cooperation as a prerequisite for the effective use of available international development assistance" on the establishment of better cooperation between state institutions, donors and the international community and civil society spoke: Ana Ilić, Deputy Director - Coordinator for EU funds in the Office for European Integration, Ivan Sekulović, Manager of the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Holger Shredder, Head of Cooperation for the EU Delegation to the Republic of Serbia, Alex Greiner, Director of the Program Strategy and Coordination of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Serbia, Aleksandra Miletić, Project Manager of the Group for preparation of the projects funded by the EU in Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, and Jelena Pajović Van Reenen, Head of the Group for International Cooperation and European Integration at the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society. The panel was moderated by Bojana Jevtović, SEKO Coordinator for Human Resources Development and Social Development on behalf of BOS.
During the working panel with Vladimir Radojičić as a moderator from the "Trag" Foundation, the participants discussed the SEKO mechanism and cross-sectoral cooperation, the current challenges and the next steps regarding the improvement of cooperation between these three sectors.
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Sectoral civil society organizations (SEKO) present a mechanism for civil society and public sector cooperation in the planning and use of funds from international development assistance. The establishment of the SEKO mechanism was initiated by the Office for European Integration of the Government of the Republic of Serbia in 2011. The SEKO Mechanism has enabled the cooperation of CSOs with public administration in 10 different areas. The SEKO Sector for Human Resources and Social Development (Education, Employment, Social Inclusion, Health and Youth Target Group) is coordinated by Belgrade Open School, European Movement in Serbia, Smart Collective, Center for Democracy Foundation and Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence.