More than 14,000 most vulnerable women in 50 municipalities across Serbia will receive assistance in the total amount of EUR 100,000 in the form of hygienic packages and necessary food, as annnounced in the joint statement of the Coordination Body for Gender Equality, the Ministry of European Integration and the EU Delegation to Serbia.
The funds have been provided with the financial support of the EU Delegation to Serbia, which reallocated a part of the funds from the 2016 IPA project ‘Key Steps towards Gender Equality’ that will be allocated to volunteer teams and emergency situation teams of the Red Cross to organise the distribution of assistance to the most vulnerable women at the local level.
President of the Coordination Body Zorana Mihajlović has said that at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic solidarity and joint work are crucial.
“This decision will ensure that, in the following days, the most vulnerable women in fifty of our municipalities will receive assistance and food they need. I would like to invite everyone who wants to help in this way to come forward and the doors of the Coordination Body and the Government of Serbia are open”, stated Mihajlović.
The project ‘Key Steps towards Gender Equality’ is implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of European Integration.
“In the moment when we are facing an unprecedented risk caused by the spread of COVID-19, it is essential to show solidarity and understanding for those who are the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. I am convinced that women in Serbia, both in villages and in cities, will be the backbone of our social and economic recovery, just as they are now fighting for the health of our patients in hospitals in these difficult circumstances, working in stores, on farms, in media reporting”, stated Minister of European Integration Jadranka Joksimović.
Funds for the entire project have been provided with the financial assistance of the EU Delegation to Serbia.
“In these difficult times, more than ever before, we must stick together and protect the most vulnerable. Within the EU assistance package to Serbia for the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, we have allocated EUR 100,000 for assistance to vulnerable women in 50 Serbian municipalities, which will be used to provide food and hygienic products to women, and provide them support for their mental health during the isolation. People with disabilities, single mothers, women taking care of large families, victims of domestic violence, elderly population from remote places in Serbia, Roma communities – none of them must be neglected, and the European Union will continue to help them”, stated Sem Fabrizi, the Head of EU Delegation to Serbia.
The realisation of this project activity will be support by the Red Cross of Serbia, given that this organisation has a developed and wide network across cities and municipalities in Serbia, and therefore, a clear insight into the needs of the most vulnerable categories of the population.
The project ‘Key Steps towards Gender Equality’ is implemented jointly by the Coordination Body for Gender Equality, the Ministry of European Integration and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women – UN Women, with the financial support of the EU Delegation to Serbia.
Source: Tanjug
