UNDP: USD 3.64 million grant approved by Japan in support of local-level resilience and disaster preparedness in Serbia
Japan will support municipalities in Serbia this year with a USD 3.64 million grant aimed at increasing local-level resilience and preparedness to respond to disasters. The 12-months-long project will be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The Project will benefit communities in at least 27 municipalities in Serbia, totalling some 1.3 million inhabitants, which have been identified by Serbian government as the most affected by last year’s devastating floods.
Working in close partnership with the national and local authorities, the project will center on specifically targeted areas of Serbia with integrated sets of measures aimed at addressing the needs identified during the UN’s post-floods emergency response phase.
The project will include the following activities:
- Small scale infrastructure works, including reparation and improvement of water supply systems, wastewater treatment and improving sanitation at municipal level;
- Improving public utility infrastructure damaged during the floods and supporting municipalities in developing technical project documentation for larger-scale infrastructure investments (thus allowing municipalities to access EU, multilateral and bilateral funding);
- Enhancing municipal capacities for disaster preparedness in line with the EU Civil Protection Mechanism;
- Supporting women’s NGOs in advocating for women participation in disaster risk management and planning, and in strengthening women’ security in crisis; and
- Landslides rehabilitation.
The Project will enhance human security of the local people through the activities above. Japan has introduced the concept of human security as a guiding principle of its official development assistance (ODA) and actively promoted the concept in cooperation with the UNDP.
The project will be implemented from March 2015 to February 2016.
Media enquiries: Stevan Vujasinovic, 011 2040 410, communications.rs@undp.org
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