LOCAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

“A Step towards Citizens”- Building Capacities of Local Communities’ Self-Governments

The Law on Local Self-Government, adopted in 2002, envisages the possibility of constituting the units of community self-government i.e. community centers in order to satisfy the needs and interests of the local inhabitants in villages and town settlements. However, the Law does not regulate their position in detail, but it is left to municipalities to define this issue more precisely by statutes. In most municipalities, the statutes only take over the general clauses of the Law, so this issue has been left without a more detailed legal regulation. For that very reason the citizens involved in the bodies that are being constituted within local communities do not know their precise authorities or possibilities, which are being offered to them, for satisfying the interests of their local environment. Such a situation adds to bad communication between the representatives of the bodies of local authority and community self-government bodies, to insufficient cooperation, which than leads to insufficient use of the bodies of local communities.

Thus it is necessary for the people, who represent citizens within the local community's bodies and who represent a direct connection between the local authority and citizens in that environment, to get acquainted with the possibilities opened by the regulations of the Law on Local self-government, as well as with the positive practice of some local communities. This is particularly important if we take into account that local communities represent the lowest level of power and a primary connection between the authorities and citizens. The work on the project “Building trust between local authorities and local communities” has enabled CeSID to identify in cooperation with some local communities' representatives their need and eagerness for education that would then contribute to more efficient concrete problems solving.

The purpose of this project is to increase capacities of local communities' self-governments, as the lowest level of power, in order to satisfy the needs and interests of the local environment/local inhabitants. The specific aims of this project are: acquainting with the structure, functioning and state of local communities in Serbia; heightening the level of citizens' knowledge about the possibilities of organized problem-solving within their own local environment; increasing work capacities of local communities; improving cooperation and developing communication between local communities, as well as between local communities and the municipality.

The project's direct beneficiaries are representatives of local community's self-governments, local self-governments and citizens who are direct participants in the activities. The indirect beneficiaries of the project are the representatives of other local communities' self-governments and local self-governments that are not included in the project, citizens of local communities and citizens of Serbia.

The project will be carried out in 15 municipalities regionally located in Serbia and it will include 3 local communities per each of these municipalities (45 local communities).

The purpose and special goals will be achieved through the realization of the following activities:

• Forming Serbian local communities database (forming a database on local communities in Serbia that will include local communities' territory, number of voters and polling stations on the territory of local communities, as well as constituted bodies within each local community with special reference to municipal statutes);
  
  Here you can download draft version of the database [800k]

• Research and analysis of the present situation in local communities (targeted, qualitative research of the present state in local communities, former practice of running local communities, the difference between local communities in urban and rural environments);

• Designing and publishing a Training brochure (the publication was printed in 2000 copies, and this material was distributed at educational panels and round tables);

• Educational panels( the education was conducted in the form of panel-discussions in 45 community centers on the territory of 15 municipalities in Serbia );

• Round table (within this activity 15 round tables will be organized and conducted).

Rockefeller Brothers Fund supports the realization of this project.