Within the regional programme “Socio-economic empowerment of the Western Balkans”, a cooperation agreement was signed between the City of Leskovac and the Help in Serbia, on Wednesday, 30 June 2021. The contract signed the Mayor Goran Cvetanovic and Help Senior Programme Manager for Economic Development Masa Bubanj.
Addressing the media, Mayor Cvetanovic thanked the Help and the associates from his Office on the track record and emphasized:
“Young entrepreneurs with their companies are the initiators of the economic prosperity. Through their work, they contribute to the creation of their own better future and the future of their children and families. First of all, by staying to live, work and create in their hometown, they approached starting businesses and developing entrepreneurship in an efficient, and in my opinion, the best way to reduce unemployment in our city and country.” said Cvetanovic.
The cooperation agreement with the City of Leskovac enables support for at least 40 micro and small businesses in in-kind grants with an average value of 2,400 euros, for crafts and services. In addition, supported beneficiaries will be provided with mentoring and advisory assistance in the process of establishing and/or expanding business activities, and business and professional training, through the joint engagement of local partners. The total planned value of direct costs, for the equipment, amounts to 96,000 euros, with the City co-financing of 33,600 euros.
Help Senior Manager, Masa Bubanj also thanked the City and the teams engaged on behalf of the local self-government, for they all together contribute to the successful realisation of the project.
“This is the ninth project in Leskovac that we are implementing with the assistance of the German Government aimed at socio-economic development and the economic recovery caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. To strengthen small businesses, we at Help’ are continuously developing the tailor-made methodological approach since 2002.
I would take the opportunity to say that corresponding to our last impact analysis, more than 74 per cent of supported businesses in Serbia are still operating. I believe that this indicator is as important to local governments as it is for us, as it shows the full potential of the use of invested donor’ and local government’s funds.” said Bubanj.
Bubanj added that the opening of the application process will follow shortly in agreement with the local self-government, which is an important partner in the realisation of the project. She also explained that the final approval of donations, i.e. in-kind grants bestowing to final beneficiaries, is done in a two-step evaluation and verification process. That enables the Help Commission to make informed decisions, based on realistic assessment through a set of social and economic criteria.
From 2005 to 2020 Help in Leskovac supported 336 beneficiaries and one cooperative with equipment and tailor-made training. The total value of the investment amounts to over 1,110,000.00 euros, out of which the City co-financed nearly 30 per cent.
The 3,35 million EUR German-funded programme “Socio-economic empowerment of the Western Balkans” Help is implementing in Albania, BiH, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, from 2021 until the end of 2022. The focus of the program is to strengthen socio-economic stability and economic recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Western Balkans. By creating mechanisms and networks for the empowerment of vulnerable groups, including COVID-19 recovery measures, as well as enabling social inclusion and resocialisation, the programme achieves better regional cooperation towards EU integration.
