1. Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction in the Republic of Serbia Ivan Sekulović Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit of the Government of the Republic of Serbia Niš, 27 March 2015

2. Presentation Overview 1.Social Inclusion – Concepts and Strategy 2.Social and Economic Context in the Republic of Serbia 3.Vulnerable Groups in the Republic of Serbia 4.Second National Report on Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction 5.Accession to the European Union 6.Conclusions and Recommendations 2

3. Social Inclusion – Concepts and Strategy Social inclusion concept: The process enabling those at risk of poverty and social exclusion to have the opportunities and funds required for full participation in the economic, social and cultural life and achieving a living standard and wellbeing considered normal in the society they live in. Social inclusion ensures greater citizen participation in decision making, impacting their lives and ensuring basic rights. At a conceptual level, Serbia is in the process of transition, i.e. abandoning the concept developed under the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and shifting to the social inclusion concept. This entails: – looking into the phenomenon of poverty beyond the material sphere, as a multidimensional phenomenon that requires an integrated approach; – alignment with the EU policies: access to employment, education, social inclusion measures, active inclusion concept... – special focus on specific vulnerable groups: youth, persons with disabilities, the Roma, LGBT persons, the elderly without pensions, women... 3

4. 2. Social and Economic Context in the Republic of Serbia Per capita GDP: US$ 5.666 HDI: 0.769 (64th of 187 countries) At-risk-of-poverty rate (the proportion of persons whose equivalised income is below 60% of the median equivalised income in the total population). Compared to the 28 EU Member States, the Republic of Serbia had the highest at-risk- of-poverty rate. The data on the development of the absolute poverty incidence (subsistence minimum) based on the HBS show that the poverty incidence grew considerably in 2012 against 2011, from 6.8% to 8.8%. The most recent data, for 2013, show that the poverty incidence decreased insignificantly compared to the preceding year, to 8.6%. 4

5. 3. Vulnerable Groups in the Republic of Serbia Under the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for Serbia, the Government first identified vulnerable groups in the Republic of Serbia in 2003: persons with disabilities, children, youth, women, the elderly (65+), the Roma national minority, the uneducated, the unemployed, refugees and internally displaced persons and the rural population. The Anti-discrimination Strategy from 2013 recognises that individuals and groups more susceptible to discrimination and discriminatory treatment comprise: members of national minorities, women, LGBTI persons, persons with disabilities, the elderly, children, refugees, internally displaced persons and other vulnerable migrant groups, members of specific religious communities and persons whose health status may give rise to discrimination EC Report: "Further efforts are needed to ensure social inclusion of vulnerable groups, such as the Roma, persons with disabilities, youth, the elderly and other socially and economically disadvantaged groups." According to surveys, public service staff show the greatest social distance to HIV-positive persons, LGBT persons and national minorities. 5

6. 4. Second National Report on Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction – priorities Improve inclusive practices in schools; Establish adequate system-wide support for the operation of inter-sectoral committees and enhance the system for support to students based on inter-sectoral committee recommendations; Develop mechanisms for early identification of children at risk of dropping out and design and implement different support measures for children and families aimed at inclusion and retention in the education system; Improve material support measures funded from local budgets, with focus on mechanisms for active inclusion of beneficiaries; Increase support to biological families, continue the deinstitutionalisation process and develop community-based services; 6

7. 4. Second National Report on Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction – priorities Provide support for the introduction of integrated, social and health care services for particularly vulnerable groups; Implement programmes addressing problems resulting in vulnerability or risk of vulnerability, with emphasis on public health and prevention programmes; Strengthen local stakeholders' capacities to adequately address improvement of vulnerable groups' housing conditions; address the relocation issue in substandard settlements; Establish a more efficient system for the provision of adequate and timely support to homeless persons, develop programmes and measures aimed at preventing homelessness and empowering and reintegrating homeless persons; Improve the competent institutions' coordinated approach to preventing and combating partner violence, in particular violence against women and children. 7

8. 4. Second National Report on Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction – recommendations concerning the social protection system Complete the process of licensing social service providers and professionals and establish and strengthen training programmes; Establish mechanisms for service individualisation, define more adequate criteria for client selection and introduce service quality monitoring and evaluation; Intensify support to CSOs as social service providers, ensure their continued training, remove barriers in the licensing process; Reform outreach work, which will enable detection of vulnerable individuals; Strengthen the capacities of centres for social work and build links to health care, education and employment service providers, as well as the police, the judiciary, CSOs representing specific vulnerable groups, the Red Cross and local government services (formulate relevant protocols for cooperation among different institutions, establishing joint mobile teams and procedures and the like). 8

9. 5. Accession to the European Union EC Report: The availability of community-based services across the country remains limited. Inclusive education is still not fully developed. The number of drop-outs remains high among the Roma, children with disabilities and children living in remote areas. Too many Roma children still enrol in special schools. Access to public buildings for persons with disabilities must be improved further, in particular in rural areas. Community-based mental health care services should be further supported as an alternative to institutional care; Stabilisation and Association Agreement: EU workers and their families must be entitled to social insurance – any pensions or annuities in respect of old age, death, industrial accident or occupational disease, or of invalidity resulting therefrom; Report on the Implementation of the Operational Conclusions of the Roma Inclusion Seminar: Over the next three years, additional funds will be committed for the recruitment of more social workers; the priority is to establish joint mobile Roma inclusion teams (centres for social work, National Employment Service, teaching assistants, health mediators, local Roma inclusion coordinators). 9

10. 5. Accession to the European Union Employment and Social Reform Programme: The European Commission has launched a new process to set and monitor the priorities in the areas of employment and social policy for accession countries: establish and develop new inter-sectoral services that would include support to the hard-to-employ in acquiring the social, communication and other skills needed to find employment, overcoming administrative and psychological barriers and activation in the labour market; support social innovations in the area of inclusion of vulnerable groups (e.g. joint mobile Roma inclusion teams); improve the accessibility of public buildings to persons with disabilities; launch a programme to strengthen local-level capacities for the introduction of supportive housing services for persons with disabilities (develop ready-to-use packages of instructions and models for the introduction of services at the local level and a series of training events for interested local governments, professionals and civil sector organisations as potential service providers); expand counselling/therapy, counselling/educational and other services for families and individuals at risk; ensure improving the quality and expanding the range of accredited training programmes for professionals, on the basis of which licences are obtained; improve outreach work, which will enable detection of vulnerable individuals and families. 10

11. 6. Conclusions and Recommendations In contextual terms, the high poverty incidence and growing social risks put the social protection system under great strain The first challenge is how to maintain an adequate level of social benefits in a time of fiscal consolidation The second challenge is how to strengthen the capacities of the social protection system and other parts of the social security system amid public administration reform at the central and local levels EU accession offers a great opportunity to adopt cross-sectoral concepts aimed at a holistic, integrated approach to social inclusion and use the relevant funds to that end Accordingly, the education of new human resources must be enriched by including state-of-the-art European approaches to social work, social pedagogy and similar concepts and pertinent qualification profiles In addition, it is necessary to introduce as much practical work as possible and early sensitisation for working with vulnerable groups Finally, at the system level, mainstreaming social inclusion should be advocated as part of reviewing accreditation standards in order to carry out a comprehensive curriculum reform 11

12. Thank you for your attention! ivan.sekulovic@gov.rs http://socijalnoukljucivanje.gov.rs/rs/ http://www.inkluzijakurs.info/onlinekurs.php 12