Enhancing local capacities to implement the 2030 Agenda and the Leave No One Behind Principle

Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities – National Association of Local Authorities in Serbia (hereinafter: the SCTM) implemented the project “Enhancing local capacities to implement the 2030 Agenda and the Leave No One Behind Principle”, in partnership with NALAS, the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of Southeast Europe. The project was implemented in cooperation with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development(BMZ).

The Overall Objective of the project was to support local governments to improve the economic, social and cultural human rights of their citizens in line with the overarching principle of the 2030 Agenda "Leave no one behind". The Specific Objectives were to enhance the capacities of local governments, their Associations and other relevant stakeholders to apply successful approaches for strengthening the economic, social and cultural human rights of particularly disadvantaged groups and to strengthen the capacities of local governments to integrate the overarching principle "Leave no one behind" of the 2030 Agenda in evidence-based planning and decision-making processes.

The project was of a regional character, implemented in five target economies (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo [1] and Albania), through associations of local governments, and whose representatives, as well as representatives of local self-governments, will be participants in project activities.

One of the project objectives was to strengthen the capacities of local self-governments to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals and to apply the principle "Leave no one behind" in designing local policies and budgets.

In order to achieve this aim, the following measures were planned and achieved with outcomes:

• Appropriate social approaches for scaling up are identified and agreed upon by the NALAS Secreatriat, in cooperation with SCTM;
• Training modules (content) were developed for each of the 6 scaling up approaches by the NALAS Secreatriat, in cooperation with SCTM;
• E-learning courses were developed by the NALAS Secretariat on the basis of the training modules (content) on the 6 scaling up approaches were offered to municipal administrations. The SCTM participated in the development of the training modules by giving comments on their proposed content;
• Social approaches have been promoted and advocated to be applied on a municipal level through series of webinars – The SCTM hosted the webinar on Awareness Raising approaches on human rights, non-discrimination and inclusion at local level. We have had 115 participants who attended the webinar.
• Six (6) Learning Clusters (one per approach) were established by the NALAS Secretariat, in cooperation with SCTM;
• Learning curricula (modules) were developed for each Learning Cluster – as the host of the IDRM learning cluster, the SCTM participated in creating cluster content by providing examples of good practice (with providing proposal for resource - person and LG);
• Knowledge and experiences have been transferred through the six Learning Clusters and beyond, within NALAS   Network. The SCTM participated in the organization of these clusters by ensuring the participation of representatives from the SCTM members. Three regional exchange events were held within the learning clusters;
• The social approaches were introduced in interested municipalities – ss the host of the IDRM cluster, the SCTM participated in organizing regional exchange events and individual consultations with LG representatives who submitted concepts and action plans. In each of the economies, two LGs from the cluster in which they achieved the best evaluations of the concepts were supported - from the members of the SCTM, the City of Zrenjanin (IDRM LC) and the Municipality of Apatin (AR LC) were supported in implementation of submitted concepts and action plans;
• The knowledge from the project was incorporated into the NALAS Knowledge System and was available to SCTM members, as well as to the organization itself;
• Municipal social – economic measures for disadvantaged groups were realized. Through both cycles of support, a total of 5 selected LGs were supported - provision of tablets necessary for distance/online learning and conducting accredited teacher training (as webinars) "Training for planning, implementation and monitoring of measures to prevent dropping out". In the first phase of support (in Bosilegrad and Trgovište), each of the municipalities received 21 tablets with 21 cards with unlimited Internet service as of December 2021. In the second phase, each of the municipalities (Bujanovac, Medveđa and Preševo) received 46 tablets. Trainings for teachers are provided in both cycles for a total of 150 teachers - 30 teachers per LG;
• Social Mapping Methodology was tested at local level. The municipalities were chosen for support (The City of Smederevo, the City of Novi Sad and the City of Kraljevo).  The first mentioned LG participated in training for the implementation of GIZ’s methodology for social mapping, while the other two LGUs participated in the learning cluster on the topic of Social Mapping;  
• Municipalities were supported by SCTM to apply the social mapping methodology.  Within both cycles of support, a total of 3 LGs were supported - the City of Smederevo, the City of Kraljevo and Novi Sad. Each of the mentioned LGUs has chosen a target group whose needs will be the subject of social mapping, as well as the method of securing the sample. LGUs actively participated all the time in all processes of providing data and consultations with service providers, mentors within the learning cluster, SCTM, NALAS and GIZ;
• The data collected during the social mapping were considered and integrated in local planning and decision-making processes on social integration and empowerment. The document "Social protection in Smederevo - situation, findings and recommendations in accordance with the priority goals of Agenda 2030" was created. This document contributed to the Strategy for the Development of Social Protection of the City of Smederevo for the period from 2023 to 2027.

The project duration was from 1 May 2020 until 15 July 2022 and the total value was  71.680,00 euros.

Contact person: Mirjana Komnenović, project coordinator on behalf of the SCTM

 [1]  All references to Kosovo in this document should be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999)