Supporting municipalities in the promotion of social inclusion

Public Policy Research Center, in partnership with the Educational Center Leskovac and Centre for Social Policy as a leading organization, has implemented the project "Supporting municipalities in the promotion of social inclusion through employment of vulnerable and marginalized groups" from October 2015 to March 2017.  The  project was implemented in 34 underdeveloped municipalities in Serbia, in Sumadija, West and Southwest Serbia.

In addition to the high risk of poverty and material degradation, these municipalities are characterised by low natural growth, high unemployment, extremely poor infrastructure and roads et . These are just some of the indicators of the low living standards of the population of these areas.
 
During January and February 2016, a survey was conducted in these municipalities about key stakeholders’ capacity in the system of labor market and employment. Preliminary results indicate that local councils for employment don’t have a clear institutional, local government role in most of these municipalities. Local Action Plans (LAP) for employment were also examined to see how they were created and how much they are based on the needs of the community. In half of the local governments, LAPs were created by individuals, without any involvement of experts or representatives of the community. It was also noted that smaller municipalities don’t have a capacity for enhancing social inclusion, mostly because of highturnover of employeesdealing with these issues, or changes in the local governmentmanagement.

However, there are some good examples, such as municipalities of Knjazevac and BelaPalanka, in which local management is very functional and LAPs are producing good results. These municipalities often hire employees with strong personal motivation and previous work experience in both government and non-for-profit sector. In certain municipalities, such as CrnaTrava, Trgoviste, Blaca and Medvedja, “Progress program” is the only source of additional funding and its employees are very motivated to continue its implementation.

National Employment Service branches play a special role in above-mentioned municipalities. Survey respondents indicated that these Services often ignore or sabotage the collaboration in different programs initiated by local governments.

The main objective of this project is to build the capacity of local institutions and increase their capacity to improve the delivery of social services, a better understanding of the needs of vulnerable groups and improve access to social protection, employment opportunities and social inclusion .

Public Policy Research Center in this project carried out activities related to the active employment measures in these municipalities. The project is funded by the The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).

Fairwork Serbia 2021-2023

CENTER leads the Fairwork efforts in Serbia by highlighting best and worst practices in the emerging platform economy and by giving every operational platform in Serbia a ‘fairness’ score.

read more...

Identifying technological changes and skills needs in the Western Balkan agri-food sector

Center  along with PPMI taks part in the ETF’s Skills for Enterprise Development activity in the Western Balkan countries focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) active in the agriculture and food sector. 

read more...

Comprehensive research on the Western Balkans Economic Integration into the EU Single Market

The project aims to revitalize EU integration in the Western Balkans by studying economic integration models in the EU Single Market for non-member countries.

read more...

See me, hear me: Advocating for legal solutions fit for new forms of work

Our policy-advocacy initiative seeks to change public policies and practices in ways that will have a positive impact on the Internet-mediated work which belongs to non-standard forms of employment and as such is not yet recognized in Serbia

read more...

Mapping Substandard Roma Settlements in Belgrade to Enhance Linkages between Housing and Social Inclusion Policies

The aim of the study was to provide a preliminary overview of the features of substandard Roma settlements within the City of Belgrade across the five priority dimensions – housing, employment, education, healthcare, and social protection

read more...

The same, but completely different: how to standardize platform work in Serbia?

Relying on the EU analyzes and reports, the latest results of the Center's research and the transfer of knowledge through European and global initiatives to improve the socio-economic status of platform workers in which the Center is involved, we strive to indicate appropriate labor-legal solutions for regulating the status of p...

read more...

Additional Report for the GIZ Study “Mapping Substandard Roma Settlements in Belgrade to Enhance Linkages Between Housing and Social Inclusion Policies”, on improving water and sanitation

The  field research on improving water and sanitation in 57 substandard Roma settlements mapped in the GIZ study Mapping Substandard Roma Settlements in Belgrade to Enhance Linkages Between Housing and Social Inclusion Policies aims to support the City of Belgrade in implementing inclusive public policies.

read more...

New employment: Promoting rights of digital workers in Serbia

The proposed action is the first ever initiative in Serbia urging for a systematic response to deprivation of economic and social rights of digital workers

read more...

The workshop and panel series titled "AI under the stars" is here!

Through this series of workshops and panels, we aim to provide abundant information and open up discussions on all the important questions arising from the use of artificial intelligence in various spheres of social activity.

read more...

Employee surveillance in times of remote work

COVID-19 has created the perfect storm in employee surveillance and further jeopardized boundaries of right to individual privacy. The project aims to offer empirical assessment of the intrusiveness and reasonableness of emerging work surveillance technologies at work, and to contribute to the national policy making at the intersect...

read more...

The Open Western Balkan Collaboratory on Online Platform Work: Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina

"The Open Western Balkan Collaboratory on Online Platform Work" brings together bringing together Serbia, Albania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina to enhance scientific exchange and cooperation in the domain of online platform work.

read more...

Decent work in the digital era: call centre workers in the Western Balkan

In all countries in the region call centres play an increasingly important role in curbing unemployment of the young working force and slowing down the brain drain. However,  they also create some short and long term negative consequences for employees and the overall economy

read more...

Did Covid-19 thought us to work from home?

Due to COVID19, many of us seem to have been abruptly immersed in the digital transformation of work in Serbia as our homes suddenly became (also) our offices.

read more...

Improved capacities and resilience of CSOs in Serbia to protect economic and social rights of Roma and migrants in the aftermath of Covid–19 pandemic

The main goal of this project is to strengthen community responses and resilience for better protection of economic and social rights of vulnerable groups in emergency situations which include high level health risks such as  during Covid 19.

read more...

Will these innovation domains change Serbia?

How can the country accelerate innovation and build a knowledge-based economy for both traditional and emerging tech companies to the extent that it can create a sustainable national competitive advantage? What ten domains hold the most potential for such growth?

read more...

Monitoring Serbia’s OSCE Chairmanship

In accordance with its program orientation and commitment to contribute actively to promotion and advancement of human security of the citizens of Serbia, the Public Policy Research Centre has started monitoring of Serbia’s OSCE Chairmanship, primarily in the area of its commitment related to human dimension. 

read more...

How does Security Sector Reform Affect Human Security in Serbia? Reassessing the impact on LGBT

The Public Policy Centre conducts a research on development and reforms in the security sector reforms towards LGBT community as a vulnerable group. The project aims at increasing public awareness of specific issues aimed at enhancing de...

read more...

Firearms Misuse and its Impact on Gender-based Violence

Public Policy Research CENTRE has started a research project focusing on firearms misuse and its impact on gender-based violence (GBV). CENTRE's team will conduct interviews, focus groups and analysis of media reports on GBV and firearms possession. Based on collected data, the team will prepare a study and launch inte...

read more...

Citizens on Watch: Public Participation and Localization of the Security Sector Reform

The aim of the project is to investigate a possibility of localization of campaigns for the SALW legalization and seizure of illegal firearms in Serbia. CENTER intends to explore viable possibilities of local communities to participate in legalization campaigns and to improve local security. The project relies on...

read more...

LOVE (Law, Order, Values) to migrants/asylum seekers in enjoying rights without discrimination

The main goal of the project is to enable protection of migrants/asylum seekers/persons granted asylum (MI/AS/PGA) against discrimination in Serbian communities in line with EU values and standards. 

read more...

Svetlana Djurdjevic Lukic Foundation

Public Policy Research Centre (CENTER) cordially invites all interesting students regardless their level of studies to sumbit papers in the field of human security. The best papers will be rewarded. 

read more...

Digging into Digital Work in Serbia: Who are crowdworkers from Serbia and why they work on global digital platforms?

The PPRC is conducting a project “Digging into Digital Work in Serbia: Who are crowdworkers from Serbia and why they work on global digital platforms?“ aimed at providing an in-depth analysis of profiles of crowdworkers from Serbia and at identifying their needs. 

read more...

Increasing Effectiveness of Competent Police Officers as a Prerequisite for Prevention of Gender Based Violence in Serbia

The goal of the project Increasing Effectiveness of Competent Police Officers as a Prerequisite for Prevention of Gender Based Violence in Serbia is to improve response of the competent police officers specialized for the processing of the GBV cases and patrol police officers who are assist...

read more...

Digital competences

CENTAR is a partner in the project whose goal is to point out the necessary digital competencies in the field of work and employment and thus enable decision-makers in Serbia to respond to new labor market demands. As a country that simultaneously faces three industrial revolutions, Serbia is motivated to ...

read more...

The role of MPs in the community response to peer violence

This project aims to provide analysis of the factors contributing to peer violence and human security concerns of youths in different local Serbian communities.

read more...

How many platform workers are in Serbia?

The CENTER is to conduct a pioneering research on scope of the platform economy in Serbia, from the labor and economic points of view. The focus is on the size of the digital labour force on digital platforms and via apps, in the sectors of transportation, and food/goods delivery.  

read more...

The Rise of the Platform Economy in South East and Eastern Europe: What Does the Future Hold?

On 27th & 28th of February 2020, the Public Policy Center has  organised a regional edition of the conference in Novi Sad which opened discussions about the anticipated impacts of the platform economy on workers, businesses, and societies in South East and Eastern Europe.

read more...

Advocating for sustainable agriculture

The Public Policy Research Center is one of the partners of the Association Fenomena as a leading partner on the project, financed from EU funds through a broader program:  “Sustainable agriculture for sustainable Balkans: Strengthening advocacy capacities of CSOs and developing policies in the Western Balkans” is a...

read more...

Targeting weapons - misuse of weapons in Serbia

CENTER prepared the analysis of the data on arms related incidents reported by the press in last two years, as well as on the citizens’ opinions about the arms possession, justifications for carrying them in public, and their tips about weapons spotted which were submitted to the Targeting Wea...

read more...

Security issues within Serbian 2016 election campaign

Public Policy Research Centre undertakes monitoring of the election campaign. Centre will assess the prominence of security-related issues in print and electronic media, the relevance of specific issues within the campaigns, and coherence of major coalitions compared against their party programmes and proclaimed reforms priorities.

read more...

Advocating for successful integration of Roma migrants through better education/employment policies

Forum Roma of Serbia, (FRS) and Public Policy Research Centre (PPRC) Serbia are implementing the project „Documenting new experiences of “Otherness” and advocating for successful integration of Roma migrants through better education/employment policies...

read more...

Enhancing the role of local communities in preventing dropout from the education system

Public Policy Research Center, in partnership with the Centre for Social Policy as a leading organization, is implementing a project Tools for Preventing Roma Dropout with the objective to decrease dropout and early school leaving of children, particularly among Roma children and returnees upon the Readmission Agr...

read more...

Arms export and violence against women

The goal of this project is to enhance the role of the Serbian parliament and civil society in overseeing Serbia’s compliance with the obligations made under the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), specifically the fact that exporters should take into account the risk of the use of conventional arms  to commit or facilitat...

read more...

New Gigmetar is here!

GigmetarTM is the first iinstrument to describe the digital geography of Serbia and other countries in the region. It is the product of efforts made by the Public Policy Research Center (CENTAR) to shed light on the issue of platform work.

read more...

Even when pandemic ends, working from home will stay with us

While in the future, companies are more likely to return to a classically organized work process, workers are hopping for the combination of work from home and in the office

read more...

Workers' dignity in the digital age: How to set standards for new forms of non-standard work in Serbia?

The goal of the project is to contribute to the creation of fair and inclusive labor and legal regulations for the newly emerging workforce on digital platforms in Serbia.

read more...

Youth and Democratic Control of Security Sector

Project “Youth’s Local Security Issues and Democratic Control of Security Sector” will provide knowledge building and direct communication of youth, municipal authorities and MPs, and therefore will contribute to the strengthened cooperation between the state and civil society in identifying major (human) security ...

read more...

Towards efficient policies on local level - budget line 481 for NGOs

A pilot project by Centre and CRNPS in three municipalities - Pirot, Kraljevo and Sombor - aims to initiate the dialogue between stakeholders in the process of appropriation from the budget line 481 for NGOs, analyze the situation on the ground, and based on findings, give suggestions to improve its transparency. ...

read more...

National HDR 2016: How to improve security of vulnerable municipalities in Serbia?

The Public Policy Research Center is selected by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to conduct a research and compile the 2015 National Human Development Report (NHDR) for Serbia, titled “Resilience of Municipalities”. In the aftermath of May 2014 floods, UNDP and the Government of Serbia agreed that the

read more...

Organizational development grant from the Think Tank Fund

CENTRE has received a grant for organizational development from the Open Society Foundations' Think Tank Fund. The Think Tank Fund supports independent policy centers that embrace inclusive policy change via analyses, advocacy and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. In the forthcoming year, CENTRE will be i...

read more...

Future of Work, Future is Now!

CENTER's first annual conference on the future of work took place in October 2018 and set the stage for a critical examination of the key drivers transforming the world of work and economy in Serbia within the context of the digital revolution. The second annual conference is on its way;...

read more...

Formal and informal networks in rural areas

How much do farmers know about rural developments programmes and subsidies? How they evaluate the process of application for these programmes and their experience with using measures of rural development programme? What motivates them to apply or not apply for the programme?   In the framework of the Regional Resea...

read more...

Supporting municipalities in the promotion of social inclusion

Public Policy Research Center, in partnership with the Educational Center Leskovac and Centre for Social Policy as a leading organization, has implemented the project "Supporting municipalities in the promotion of social inclusion through employment of vulnerable and marginalized groups" fro...

read more...

Gender and Firearms – Why is NAP 1325 so important?

The proposed project aims to contribute to promoting the NAP 1325 in five local communities in Serbia, through gender-oriented approach in the context of gender-based violence – small arms and light weapons nexus. 

read more...

Inclusion of Roma Women and Men in Security Sector

The project’s key aim is to increase representativeness of Roma in police, in order to strengthen confidence of this population in the Ministry of Interior, to improve Roma community security, as well as to increase level of employment of young Roma women and men. 

read more...

DEA – Women Digital Entrepreneurship Awakening

This project aims at increasing the level of formal employment through the promotion of entrepreneurship among female digital workers in Serbia.

read more...

Research on family life-satisfaction in Serbia

When it comes to family characteristics, for the happiness of families with children is the most important parenting, family functioning and social cohesion, and to a lesser extent, family habits. On the other hand, family structure (marital status, number of children, whether they are on an extended or nucleus family and other char...

read more...

Firearms Possession and Human (In)Security: Impact on youth and gender based violence

The Public Policy Centre is conducting a project concerning perceptions on firearms possession, especially among youth and women, since June 20. The aim is to contribute to reduction of human insecurity in Serbia for these vulnerable groups.  

read more...

Prevention, Protection and Integration of the Human Trafficking Victims in Serbia

The Public Policy Research Centre, in cooperation with the government Center for the Human Trafficking Victims Protection, conducted the research on the human trafficking victims in Sremska Mitrovica, Pirot, and Smederevo, where their numbers have been increasing in last two year.

read more...

Impact Analysis of Two Newly Introduced Services Designed to Support Minors among Migrants and Refugees

Public Policy Research Centre was commissioned by the Center for Research and Development of the Society IDEAS to conduct an impact analysis of two newly introduced services to support minors among migrants and refugees - temporary guardians and cultural...

read more...

Roma in Serbia: How safe they feel and do they see improvements?

Publication ‘Roma women and men and security sector reform in the Republic of Serbia’ brings results of CENTRE's research on security problems of the Roma population. It is first research of this kind which analyzed perc...

read more...

Mapping (Non)Discrimination Discourse in Military Education

Non-discrimination of the vulnerable groups (women, ethnic and religious minorities, LGBT population) and the attitude towards them are practically absent in the teaching process in the Military Academy and Military High School show the results of the most recent research project of the Public Policy Research Centre. The research re...

read more...

Rural Development Network as a Framework for Research Collaboration

After succesfull research about formal and informal networks in rural areas, a research team from the Association of Agricultural Economists, Republic of Macedonia (AAEM) and a CENTER team, led by Natalia Bogdanov were engaged in the creation of a network of researchers on the topic of rural development...

read more...

Vulnerable Groups And Security Sector Reform: LGBT Case Study

The project was focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) people’s perceptions about their safety and the relationship with security structures - police and the Army. Research was conducted via focus groups’ discussions with LGBT community in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis, in cooperation with the NGOs dealing...

read more...

Support to the Women Police Officers Network in South East Europe (WPON)

Support to the women police officers network in South East Europe (WPON) in preparation of recommendations addressing the recruitment, promotion, retention and career building of women police officers in the region. The Center, via its representative, contribu...

read more...

Local Security and Role of MPs

The aim of the project is to contribute to the strengthened cooperation between the state and civil society in identifying major (human) security issues affecting municipal level and strengthening horizontal and vertical cooperation within endeavours to enhance security governance and democratic contr...

read more...

Regional Human Development Report on Social Inclusion - Follow-up Research

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Human Development Report on Social Inclusion for theEuropeand CIS countries examined social exclusion in the region around four different types of exclusions that people in the region can experience: exclusion from ec...

read more...

Assessment of Results of the Social Innovation Fund

This evaluation – done jointly by the Foundation for the Advancement of Economics (FREN) and CENTER - was an attempt to conduct systematic assessment of results of the activities undertaken by Social Innovation Fund (SIF). The objecti...

read more...

Evaluation of Efficiency of the Local Mechanisms of Social Inclusion of Roma

This project resulted in recommendations for efficient and sustainable work of the local mechanisms for the social inclusion of Roma in the Republic of Serbia. The CENTAR research team analyzed the work of the existing mechanisms - health mediators, pedagogical assistants, Roma coordinators, advisors at the National Employment Servi...

read more...