Memorandum of Cooperation with the Civil Society Organisations within SEKO

November 20 2014 |

The European Integration Office of the Government of the Republic of Serbia signed today the Memorandum of Understanding in the field of planning, programming, monitoring and reporting on the international development assistance with nine partner organisations of the civil society, including as follows: Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, European Movement in Serbia, National Alliance for Local Economic Development (NALED), Belgrade Open School, Young Researchers of Serbia, Centre for Ecology and Sustainable Development (CEKOR), Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Ibar Development Association Kraljevo (IDA) and Civic Initiative.

The main goal of the Memorandum is the institutionalisation of relations between the Serbian European Integration Office and Sectoral Civil Society Organisations (SEKO), as well as undertaking obligations for the implementation of joint activities and regular exchange of information in processes of planning, programming, monitoring and reporting on the international development assistance.

The Memorandum signatories are leading SEKO organisations for cooperation with public administration in nine different fields - eight sectors (justice, home affairs, public administration reform, competitiveness, energy, environment and climate change, human resources and social development, agriculture and rural development), as well as three thematic fields (culture, media and civil society).

The cooperation with SEKO organisations includes as follows: consulting, participating in the work of sectoral working groups for the preparation of proposals for using assets from EU funds, organisation in training, etc.

The European Integration Office is the main coordinator of work at the SEKO mechanism level. Each SEKO is guiding minimum three and maximum five organisations, among which one is the leading organisation and in charge of coordinating activities. This mechanism so far includes 418 civil society organisations from all over Serbia.

Establishing and implementation of the cooperation programme with Civil Society Organisations is financed with the help of Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and Department for International Development of the Government of the United Kingdom (DFID). Since establishment of the SEKO mechanism, the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society, TACSO project Serbia and TRAG Foundation have supported its functioning.

SEKO mechanism was established in 2011 in order to improve the dialogue between state authorities and civil society in the process of programming and increasing efficiency in using development funds, especially assets from EU funds.