Bujanovac, 25 July 2011 - Cities have a primary role in coordinating the activities aimed at reducing crime. Local governments are seen as the key actors in coalitions and in the development of community-wide planning strategies for crime prevention. In order to initiate and support local stakeholders in their efforts to deal with urban insecurity, PBILD programme jointly with 13 partner municipalities initiated the process of formulation of Local Safety Diagnoses.

The Diagnosis is a key instrument to determine the extent of crime in a city, its manifestations, causes, impact on society and the public perceptions. The term Diagnosis is borrowed from the health discipline in order to determine and describe insecurity problems and affected areas in urban settlements, going beyond the symptoms and seeking to establish the causes of the problem. The goal is to present the situation and to identify priority areas that need attention and the key partners that should be involved in defining and preparing the Local Safety Strategies and Action Plans.

After several months of intense assessment, including field and research work, Safer Cities Team has finalized Local Safety Diagnoses. The success of the process has depended on the good cooperation with partner municipalities and local institutions, but also on expert support provided by the European Forum for Urban Safety, and field and desk research work implemented by PBILD partner the Educational Centre from Leskovac.

For the needs of formulation of Local Safety Diagnoses, a wide research was conducted in all 13 municipalities. The information is acquired through focus groups meetings with key urban stakeholders, questionnaires and deep interviews, but also through preparatory analyses and research of already existing statistical information. A total of 360 local experts and professionals completed the questionnaire and the distribution of the sample was proportional to the size of municipalities (number of inhabitants). Further, 52 deep interviews were conducted with top management structures, such as Police Departments, local governments and social welfare centers. All available documents, the strategic development plans, strategies for social protection, action plans to support vulnerable groups, reports of institutions relevant to safety assessment (Policing administration, judiciary, social welfare center, educational institutions, health care and non-governmental sector), a total of 74 documents, were the source of the work and further integration of data, views and needs of the citizens of Jablanica and Pcinja.

Following a participatory approach, during the second part of June and the beginning of July 2011, restitution workshops have been organised in 12 partner municipalities for validation of the results upon finalization of the Diagnosis. Participants, Safety Coalition members, Local Self-Government and institution representatives, and other interested parties, obtained an insight into the crime and violence situation in their municipality, its manifestations, causes, impact on society, citizens’ perception and feeling of security, and the policies and institutional arrangements currently available to deal with these issues in order to improve urban safety. After reaching consensus on their municipality's urban safety status, present stakeholders turned their focus on key priority areas of concern and identified top priorities.

The priorities identified by 12 Safety Coalitions include among others:

• substance abuse,
• violence prevention,
• traffic safety,
• zoo hygiene and stray dogs,
• general and collective security,
• reacting in emergency situations,
• safety of children and youth,
• prevention of juvenile delinquency,
• safety of citizens in the border zone and multi-ethnic relations

The restitution process of the Safety Diagnoses is finalised and the key areas of concern are identified in 12 municipalities in South Serbia. The Local Safety Diagnosis will be an integral part of the Local Safety Strategy. In the following months Safety Councils of South Serbian municipalities, supported by Safer Cities Team, will be engaged in the formulation of Local Safety Strategies and Action Plans for improved safety of their urban environments.

Bujanovac, 15 July 2011 - In April 2011, the Pcinjski District Police Directorate have launched the initiative and advanced the request to organise and perform the whole Safer Cities training cycle for Pcinjski district Police Officers. Representatives of Police departments from across the Pcinjski and Jablanicki Districts have been actively participating to the work carried out in the previous months within local Safety Councils and to the Safer Cities trainings in municipalities.

The skills and knowledge acquired was recognized as beneficial for daily work and operations of Police officers. The initiative received the support and approval by the Ministry of Interior as well. As a result of this cooperation, following the pace of one week – one training, all four training sessions were delivered during May to two Police officers from each Police Station from Pčinjski District (seven municipalities), including two staff members from the Section for Planning and Analyses and one staff member from the Section for Psycho-social Support; in total, 17 Police officers.

Further, also the neighbouring Jablanicki District Police Directorate in Leskovac raised the same initiative and advanced the request to replicate Safer Cities Training Cycle for Police officers from all six municipalities of the Jablanicki district. In coordination with the Ministry of Interior, Safer Cities Team is organizing for the replication of the Training Cycle delivery in September 2011.

While not being planned by the Programme Document, the replication of Safer Cities capacity building activities represents an added value for the Programme and is in itself a notable result. Building capacities of local Police officers represents an unplanned added value for the support provided by the Programme in further triggering institutional changes and development. Bringing Police closer to Safety Coalitions the programme is supporting the development of mechanisms for strengthening partnership between key stakeholders.

Bujanovac, June 2011 - In the frame of capacity building activities for improved safety and prevention of violence in partner municipalities of PBILD Programme in south Serbia, Safer Cities Training Cycle was delivered, with a total of 46 training sessions, to partner municipalities across the Pcinjski and Jablanicki districts from February to June 2011.

Partner local authorities and institutions have provided continuous support to the organization of the trainings in recognition of the need to strengthen capacities of Local Councils.

Municipal Administrations have been scheduling official Safety Council sessions, with full involvement of Mayors/Assembly Presidents, often hosting the opening sessions. Besides Safety Council members, trainings targeted representatives and civil servants of local authorities, Police Departments, public companies mandated for urban planning, Youth Offices, schools, health services, Centres for Social Work.

Safer Cities Training Cycle consists of four one-day training sessions with a goal of improving awareness and skills of local stakeholders on conflict/violence prevention planning through participation, dialogue and partnerships for improved safety and prevention of violence, and specifically in a) Conflict Management, Negotiation and Communication, b) Participatory Planning, c) Stakeholders Analysis and d) Action Planning.

Training sessions were programmed and designed according to identified needs of local stakeholders, based on the findings of the Training Needs Assessment conducted earlier.

The capacity building process also facilitated and supported strengthening of partnership relations between local stakeholders, introducing the participatory approach to local safety concerns and issues that will be applied in South Serbian municipalities throughout the forthcoming strategic planning process. Additionally, local Safety Coalition members have been introduced closely with PBILD and Safer Cities activities and achievements, and built up a strong motivation to take active participation in future development of Safety Strategies/Action Plans.

Capacity building sessions took place over the course of five months in the municipalities of Bojnik, Lebane, Medvedja, Presevo, Surdulica, Vlasotince, Bosilegrad and Trgoviste as well as in the cities of Leskovac and Vranje. As a result of the confirmed acceptance of the training cycle and successful training delivery, Bujanovac Local Self-Government also expressed the interest in the complete Safer Cities Training Cycle to be delivered to their staff members and apprentices. Replying positively to this request, Safer Cities has achieved an added value for the overall Programme, by building capacities of local institutions even beyond activities planned by Programme Document.

As per data gathered in the evaluation of the training cycle delivered, skills and knowledge of all training participants from eleven municipalities were improved for an average of 23%, having baseline average score of 1.84 increased to 2.54 after training cycle delivery (scores = 0 minimum, 3 maximum).

As the most significant changes after delivery of training cycle, participants have emphasised:

1. Improvement of knowledge and new skills (+45.33%),
2. Changed relations between participants (+32.67%) and
3. Establishment of common understanding within the team (+29.67%).

Where do potential crimes take place? How does the specific town area function in its entirety? Are there unpopulated intervening spaces? Are there objects which create barriers? Where are the human environments where people don’t like to move about? Do we have a proper lighting of our streets? Are our children safe when going back home from school?

Surdulica, October 2010 - These and many other questions were raised recently in Surdulica, small town in South Serbia. Safety “exploratory walk” as an idea and a method was introduced in this town in mid-October 2010 from the outset of the Safer Cities work worldwide. The idea was to make use of the knowledge and experience that already exists, through dialogue, walks and meetings between people on local level, talking about how safety can be improved in their own town. The Surdulica newly formed Safety Board took the lead in organising this practice event, alongside with Local Police Station, future Safer Cities trainers, and representatives of Safer Cities Project and European Forum for Urban Security EFUS. We wanted to promote a completely new approach in the area of urban safety in Serbia. There are no records that exploratory walks were undertaken in other Serbian cities before, while we have now confirmed that this is an important step forward towards a more human and safe town. A safe town is the one which invites all its residents out. So that they can meet on the square, walk home on a summer evening and cycle over to friends in a different part of town. An attractive town welcomes everyone and provides a large area for personal encounters. Results of the exploratory walk can be used later on in the work of Safety Council enabling its members to react promptly to citizens’ demands.

The event was organised within the cycle of trainings organised to build capacities of local trainers to be able to work with Local Safety Coalitions and transfer in an effective way knowledge and skills to its members and other key stakeholders. Their role will be to support and co-facilitate participatory strategic planning processes on improving urban safety. The aim is to strengthen the capacities of municipalities to formulate and implement safety strategies and build effective partnerships with local actors. The PBILD Safer Cities component aims at creating a culture of prevention and a safe environment for all urban inhabitants by supporting local authorities and stakeholders in addressing urban safety and reducing delinquency and insecurity. The first training in a series, on “Training Design and Delivery“ was delivered to pre-selected trainers in order to improve their understanding, skills and knowledge on main concepts and methodology of designing and delivering training. The second training on “Urban safety” was conducted in mid-October 2010 by European Forum for Urban Security and UN-HABITAT Safer Cities Programme. This 4 day ToT was oriented towards the gaining of knowledge and skills in urban safety: crime prevention tools and practices in urban settings were delivered to training participants. The third training on “Facilitation of Participatory Planning and Decision Making Processes” was the last in the series of ToT. Eight future trainers participated in these ToTs in the period September – November 2010, while beneficiaries of the capacity building programme will be members of Local Safety Coalitions and it will be implemented in the period of January – March 2011.

Bujanovac, September 2010 - Within the foreseen activities to develop appropriate capacity building programs to support the planning process for the formulation of local safety strategies and action plans in the 13 partner municipalities of South Serbia, Focus Group meetings were organised by the Safer Cities Team and conducted by the European Forum for Urban Safety EFUS experts.

During four days in September 2010, in four host municipalities, local municipal officials and partners from all municipalities gathered and discussed about the development of training programmes tailored to the local context. More than 50 local representatives actively participated on the Focus Group meetings. These discussions produced data and insights that would be less accessible without interaction found in a group setting—listening to verbalised experiences stimulated participants to express their needs and ideas regarding capacity building programme - trainings. This was also opportunity not only to assess the opinions of the group members, but also to spread information on Safer Cities planned activities across society with the help of the group members.

Focus Group meetings represent the second phase of Training Needs Assessment which was conducted in May 2010. The assessment targeted representatives and civil servants of local authorities, public companies mandated for urban planning, Safety Councils, Youth Offices, Police departments, schools, health services and Centres for Social Work, among others. A series of meetings were held during May, accompanied by conducted interviews with local partners. As the result, we have collected over 100 questionnaires from over 80 municipal institutions/organisation/departments. Following the TNA, Safer Cities component of PBILD Programme organised a series of Training of Trainers for selected trainers from partner municipalities.

Bujanovac, September 2010 - From the beginning of project activities in March 2010, the Safer Cities team within the UN Joint Programme in South Serbia Peace Building and Inclusive Development – PBILD, is working closely with all thirteen municipalities, and in close consultation with representatives of Local Self-government, Centres for Social Welfare, Youth Offices, Offices/departments for Economic Development, Police Departments and Municipal Safety Councils.

Mayors and elected representatives have a key role to play in creating local coalitions responsible for formulating and implementing joint safety strategies. We are aiming to provide support, guidance and technical assistance to local authorities on procedures and steps to follow for the establishment of Safety Coalitions, through building partnerships on local level. This kind of partnership approach brings together local capacities and human resources in the form of skills, experiences and ideas to tackle urban safety issues that are often beyond the capacity of a single institution/organisation.

Through the consultative process, Mayors expressed their interest and appreciation of further Safer Cities support in the establishment and institutionalization of Safety Coalitions as Local Councils or Boards. There are six Safety Councils already existing in the region, and now, as a concrete result of project activities, there are two newly formed Councils established in Bojnik and Surdulica. Besides these two municipalities, Bosilegrad and Leskovac are also committed in achieving the same objective: build capacities on local level to effectively prevent urban crime and violence.

UN-HABITAT Safer Cities will continue to provide support to local institutions and organisations in South Serbia in creating effective partnerships and building their capacities, in order to address urban insecurity in effective and efficient manner.

Belgrade, 19-20 May 2010 - On May 19th and 20th the Theme Group on Roma Inclusion of the UN Country Team in Serbia, with support of the UNHCHR and UN-HABITAT, organized two one-day training workshops targeting local and national level institutions on the right to adequate housing. The Ministry of Human and Minority Rights of the Republic of Serbia co-hosted the workshops.

This initiative is a result of the implementation of one of the recommendations coming out of the work that is being carried out in Serbia by the UNCT around forced evictions and relocations of Roma informal settlements. The main objectives were to set out a common understanding of the economic, social and cultural rights framework, of international norms and standards related to the right to adequate housing, and to see how they can be implemented at local and national level.

The workshops focused on the content of the state regulatory framework with regard to the right to adequate housing and on good practice examples on translating the law to the practice. Relocations of Roma settlements in Belgrade were analyzed as a specific challenge Serbian authorities are and will be dealing with. The workshops also included a presentation on local good practice examples and projects for sustainable integration and upgrading or Roma settlements in Serbian municipalities implemented by UN-HABITAT in the framework of the Settlement and Integration of Refugees Programme in Serbia between 2005 and 2009. Besides the training workshop, the UNCT has provided for the translation of the key documents elaborating the international law standards in the field of the right to adequate housing.

State authorities, and in particular local authorities, showed great interest in the presentations, and also identified a number of areas were progress could be made.

The initiative saw the full support of UNHCHR and UN-HABITAT who provided substantive contributions, in cooperation with UNHCR, WHO, UNICEF and UNDP, members of the UNCT Theme Group on Roma Inclusion, who are working together in the spirit of ONE UN in providing support to the Government of Serbia on Roma Rights related issues.

In the frame of the activities of the UN Joint Programme PBILD Peacebuilding and Inclusive Local Development in South Serbia, and specifically the Promotion of Peacebuilding in South Serbia Component financed by the Spanish MDG Achievement Fund, UN-HABITAT is launching the Open Call to submit proposals for the formulation of Local Safety Diagnosis in the 11 municipalities of Bojnik, Crna Trava, Lebane, Vlasotince, Medvedja, Bosilegrad, Bujanovac, Presevo, Surdulica, Trgoviste and Vladicin Han, and the two cities of Vranje and Leskovac.

This call is open for legal entities with no-profit status and established in Serbia. The Call is open starting as of 27 May 2010 and will be open until 5pm on 10 June 2010.

Guidelines for the Call for Proposals for the formulation of Local Safety Diagnosis in 13 cities/municipalities of Pcinjski and Jablanicki Districts (PDF FORMAT)

Annex A: Application Form (WORD FORMAT)

Annex B: Budget Plan and Payment Schedule (EXCEL FORMAT)

Annex C: Work Plan and Implementation Schedule (EXCEL FORMAT)

Annex D: Local Safety Diagnosis – Preparation Guidelines (PDF FORMAT)

Further information regarding Local Safety Diagnosis formulation process and Safer Cities methodology will be presented at a Workshop open to all interested applicant organizations. The workshop will have a Questions and Answers session where clarification on the project task will be given.

The Workshop is scheduled on: 4 June 2010
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Location :PBILD Office conference room, Karadjordja Petrovica bb, 17520 Bujanovac
Working language: English

Applicants who may be interested in participating to the workshop are encouraged to send an email confirming their participation to office@unhabitat.org.rs no later than Wednesday 2 June 2010.

Go to Documents DOWNLOAD section

The conference Access to social and affordable housing was held on February 11, 2010 in Belgrade, co-organized by the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning and the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration with the technical assistance of UN-HABITAT and the support of the Italian Government.

The conference reflects the Serbian political will of sharing experiences with other European countries on affordable housing policy development and strategic options to better target social inclusion. The conference aimed at confronting different housing policy options and experiences for strengthening affordable housing delivery systems in Serbia.

H.E. Oliver Dulic the Minister for Environment and Spatial Planning, in his opening speech, highlighted the ongoing steps the Government of Serbia is undertaking, following the adoption of the Law on Social Housing last August, to further develop appropriate policy instruments and mechanisms for the implementation of social housing programs in the future. The Ministry is currently identifying possible policy options to target the needs of the socially vulnerable population with a strategic approach in a medium/long term perspective, which would be adequate also for possible integrations of housing and urban/spatial planning policies especially in respect of the legalization of informal settlements and the provision of land for social housing.

The relevance of the ongoing reforms in the social housing sector to the EU integration process of Serbia was highlighted by Mr. Adriano Martins Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Serbia, and H.E. Armando Varricchio the Ambassador of Italy to Serbia who confirmed the commitment of the Italian Government to continue supporting Serbia in the path towards EU.

“The efforts of the Government in reaching the housing needs of the most vulnerable will contribute to the process of achieving peace and stability and the fight against poverty and social exclusion, one of EU’s main objectives”, said Mr. Martins. 2010 is the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. Building a more inclusive Europe is vital to achieving the European Union's goals of sustained economic growth, more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. The involvement and cooperation of all stakeholders, central government, local self governments and the civil society, is key to successfully reach adequate and appropriate solutions for the inclusion of the most vulnerable in their communities, added Mr. Martins.

The Mayor of Nis, Mr. Simonovic, called as representative of the Local Authorities at the conference, addressed the participants pointing out the important role of Local Self Governments in further shaping the housing policy and the development and implementation of strategies and programs at the local level, addressing the need to further strengthen the collaboration between Local Self Governments and Ministries.

In this respect, the methodological approach of the Conference itself was highly valued as it aimed at involving all actors, bringing together representatives of central and local governments, the private sector, the academia and research institutes, and the civil society.

Mr. Krzysztof Mularczyk the Director of the UN-HABITAT Warsaw Office, congratulated the Government in its endeavors in organizing and shaping the policy framework, and stressed its key role in then facilitating and supporting local initiatives, as well as the initiatives of the citizens and the private sector. UN-HABITAT is continuing supporting the Government in its efforts to develop the housing policy for Serbia and to facilitate the exchange of experiences with partners and institutions from the Region and the EU.

[ Click here to access the link to the Agenda of the conference ]

The conference presented some of the previous experience in the field of social and affordable housing in Serbia from different perspectives by the Housing Centre (Serbian NGO), the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy and the Commercial Bank.

The Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning presented the study “Elements for national social housing strategy” prepared by the Center of Liberal and Democratic Studies and carried out in late 2009, to identify possible strategies and options which will feed the development of a national social housing strategy.

The Deputy Director of the Environment, Housing and Land Management Division of the UNECE and international experts from the University of Calgary, the Department of Urban Studies of the University of Glasgow, the Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies of the Delft University of Technology, the London School of Economics, and Federcasa Italian National Housing Federation brought experiences and analysis from other European countries highlighting issues that could be of considerable importance for the ongoing housing reform process in Serbia.

Related abstracts and presentations can be viewed following the links below.

The participation has been numerous and active, including the representatives of the Serbian Parliament, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, Republic Agency for Spatial Planning, Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, Faculty of Architecture of the University of Belgrade, the Institute of Urbanism of Belgrade, the Serbian Chamber of Engineers, the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, representatives of Cities’ Assemblies and Councils, local self-governments (Cities of Belgrade, Nis, Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Cacak, Valjevo, Uzice, Vranje, Leskovac, Novi Sad, Subotica, Pancevo, Stara Pazova, and Municipalities of Krusevac and Kikinda), Municipal Housing Agencies, Association of Housing Agencies, Centres for Social Care, commercial banks, the Council of Europe, the European Integration and Economic Section of the EU Delegation to Serbia, OSCE and other international organizations, the Local Technical Unit of the Italian Cooperation in Belgrade and other representatives of the donor community, civil society organizations and non-profit associations.

The robust dialogue and discussion that has stemmed from the presentations of experiences has provided a set of recommendations for the new social housing policy in Serbia.

Download here the Conference documentation:

Agenda                                                                        [in English]        [in Serbian]
List of participants                                                    [in English]

Presentations:

Ms. C. von Schweinichen, UNECE                                 [in English]        [in Serbian]
Ms. S. Tsenkova, University of Calgary                         [in English]        [in Serbian]
Mr. M. Stephens, Univerity of Glasgow                         [in English]        [in Serbian]
Mr. G. van Bortel, Delft University of Technology          [in English]       
Ms. A.M. Pozzo, Federcasa                                           [in English]       
Ms. C. Whitehead, London School of Economics           [in English]       

Abstracts:

Ms. S. Tsenkova, University of Calgary                           [in English]        [in Serbian]
Mr. G. van Bortel, Delft University of Technology            [in English]        [in Serbian]
Ms. C. Whitehead, London School of Economics             [in English]        [in Serbian]