Current Events

Members of the working group assigned by the Government of the Republic of Serbia and members of the working team of the Ministry of Defence for developing the National action plan (NAP) for the implementation of UNSCR 1325 held the first meeting on 23 August 2010 in the House of Guard on Topčider.

On 24 June Serbian Government passed the Decision on establishing the inter-ministerial working group for developing the NAP for the implementation of UNSCR 1325 – women, peace and security, as a result of one year process initiated by the BFPE and published in the Recommendations for developing the NAP for the implementation of UNSCR 1325 in Serbia ( BFPE brosura).

BFPE offered its assistance and expertise to the Working group and the MoD team during this process.

The National action plan tends to raise visibility of women in the security sector and their engagement in the peace processes, and enhance legal protection of women and improve implementation of gender equality in Serbia.

From 26 July to 20 August, the Ministry for Diaspora of the Republic of Serbia successfully carried out the project Get Acquainted with the State of Serbia in cooperation with the Organization of Serbian Students Abroad and with the support of the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence. Forty-six Serbian students who are currently attending undergraduate or graduate studies abroad had the opportunity to get acquainted with the system of public administration during the three-week internship program in 23 Serbian ministries.

On July 26 and 27, the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence organized the introductory seminar that took place at the Palace Serbia in Belgrade, aimed at providing the students with information on key socio-political processes in Serbia and the public administration system. Ivan Vejvoda, Director of the Balkan Trust for Democracy, spoke on the topic of Serbia and the Western Balkans in the context of Euro-Atlantic integration, while Professor Mijat Damjanović talked with the students about the requirements for modernization of public administration in Serbia, and Vladimir Ateljević of the Serbian Office for European Integration presented the National Program for Integration of Serbia into the European Union.

On the second day of the seminar, Ivica Dačić, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior and Mr. Srđan Srećković, Minister of Diaspora addressed the students, upon which the orientation workshop took place where students were presented with various practical aspects of the system of public administration in order to better prepare them for the internship. On this occasion, students were introduced to their coordinators from the ministries in charge of the program with whom they discussed the envisaged program activities.

By the end of the three weeks of internship, a two-day workshop was held on August 16 and 17 during which the students had the opportunity to share their experiences from the different ministries. As a final result, the students wrote a report for the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, stating their views on the functioning of public administration and suggestions for improving the work of ministries. The report was presented to Mr. Cvetković on August 20.

This project was evaluated as highly important both by the students who attended the internship program and also by the Prime Minister Cvetković, the First Deputy Dačić, Minister Srećković and different representatives of the ministries involved in the implementation, especially in the context of attempting to achieve greater involvement of the highly educated young people currently attending study programs or living abroad in the socio-political processes in the country, either by motivating them to return Serbia or by including them in activities aimed at building a more positive image of Serbia in the countries where they live.