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10-06-2011.
CSO’s – Strong Partners in Social Welfare System Reform

Over 150 representatives of civil society organizations, the Government, local self-governments, centers for social work, experts and specialized institutions for working with people with disabilities have participated on the national conference Civil Society Organizations – Strong Partners in Social Welfare System Reform, which was held on June, 9th 2011 at the Palace of Serbia in Belgrade.  The conference was organized by Balkan Community Initiatives Fund, in partnership with The Republic Institute for Social Protection and Provincial Institute for Social Protection, under the patronage of Ministry of Labor and Social Policy.

The topics of the conference were the opportunities for the cooperation between all actors in the realm of social welfare, the improvement of social services for people with intellectual difficulties and the role of civil society in social welfare system reform.  Vladimir Pešić, Assistant to the Minster and Jelena Korević, Senior Counselor and Norms Manager in Sector for Protection of People with Intellectual Disabilities have spoken about the reforms of Ministry of Labor and Social Policy and the importance of the new Law on Social Protection.Lidija Milanović, Counselor at The Republic Institute for Social Protection, and Sanja Grmuša, Counselor at Provincial Institute for Social Protection have explained the questions on the quality of services, standardization and licensing of service providers in line with the new law on Social Protection. Žarko Šunderić, Manager of Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Team at Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, has especially pointed out the important role of civil society which is often the initiator of social change and reforms.  Mihaela Janeša has greeted all the participants in the name of donor – Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia.

The lecture given by Dutch expert in the field of social protection Hans van der Wielen on Quality of Life method, by which the quality of life with a focus on equality, inclusion, strengthening and support is defined and measured, and which has its use in the work with people with intellectual difficulties has left a remarkable impression on the participants.  You may view the presentation here:Quality of Life: Framework as a starting point for our progress.ppt

The participants have considered in work groups the questions of inter-sector cooperation, the quality of life of people with intellectual difficulties and social welfare services, and have reached the conclusions on the challenges and opportunities for future work.

Manual for social services providers for people with intellectual difficulties was published at the conference, which has been put together by BCIF, with a review of social welfare system in Serbia and The Netherlands, and the examples of good praxis of civil society organizations as the service providers from both countries. 

The national conference Civil Society Organizations – Strong Partners in Social Welfare System Reform is a part of the project of the same name, which is being implemented by BCIF in partnership with The Scan Foundation from The Netherlands, thanks to the means of the European Union from Strengthening Serbia –EU Civil Society Dialogue project.The goal of the project is to support the cooperation between civil society organizations and the institutions from Serbia and European Union countries (The Netherlands), to strengthen the connections and the exchange of experiences between social services providers, and to strengthen the dialogue between civil societies and the institutions in the reforms in Serbia.  For more information you may view the following page www.bcif.org/socijalna_inkluzija.

Photo gallery may be viewed here.

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