EU donated EURO 1.4 million for Serbian child protection programs

Belgrade, 11 June 2008 - The EU is providing EURO 1.4 million to UNICEF for a new 30-month project “Transforming Residential Institutions for Children and Developing Sustainable Alternatives”.

The aim of the Project is to ensure full capacity of the child care system in responding to the needs of the most vulnerable groups of children in Serbia. The project will be managed by the European Agency for Reconstruction and implemented by UNICEF in partnership with the Serbian Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. In line with the government’s Social Welfare Development Strategy and National Plan of Action for Children, the project will assist in transforming residential institutions into child-centered community-based services which respond to local needs, strengthening and expanding the existing foster care system, building the professional capacities needed for a transformed and decentralized system of child care.

It is expected that the project will contribute in reducing the number of children in residential institutions in Serbia by 25% up to 2011 and, that this percentage will be further increased in the following years.

The Project financed by the EU will last for 30 months. The main partners, in addition to the Serbian Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, are local communities and civil society organizations. They will play a key role in furthering the process of deinstitutionalization.