News from EU projects

A meeting of coordination groups for the use of EU funds

For the purpose of informing provincial secretariats, municipalities, cities, public utility companies, foundations, clusters, civil society organisations, educational and other institutions, and on the occasion of announcing the second call within the Serbia-Bosnia and Herzegovina Cross-border Cooperation Programme, European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina organised Info day for Coordination Groups on 23 December 2019, which outlined the conditions of competition under the current call. Info day was held in the Assembly of AP Vojvodina.

The goal of the very call for project proposal is strengthening of socio-economic development in the cross-border region between Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina through pre-defined goals and priorities based on comparative advantages and existing resources. The large number of representatives of institutions and civil sector organisations responded to invitation to participate in this event.

Start of the metorship programme within the Active Girls project

On Thursday, 12 December 2019, there was a meeting between mentors and female schoolgirls within the framework of the “Support sport and physical activity of girls – ActiveGirls” project in the Yellow Salon of the Provincial Government in Novi Sad. The project is co-financed by the European Union under the Interreg – IPA CBC Hungary–Serbia. The project overall budget is EUR 210,865.04, of which the EU co-financing (IPA) is EUR 179,235.28.

The meeting was attended by Jovana Rapajić and Tamara Glišić-Krivošija on behalf of the European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina, who are also members of the project team. On behalf of the Provincial Secretariat for Sports and Youth, the participants were addressed by Aranka Binder, Assistant Provincial Secretary for Sports. The event was chaired by Marko Adamović, Project Manager, Provincial Secretariat for Sports and Youth.

The Lead Beneficiary in the project is the Provincial Secretariat for Sports and Youth, and the other project partners are the European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina, Municipality of Szentes in Hungary and Szeged Tisza Squash Sport Club.

Tamara Glišić-Krivošija presented the mentorship programme within the “Active Girls” project. After that, the couples (mentors and mentorееs) were introduced and given directions for the implementation of the activity in the following six-month period. The meeting signified the launch of the mentorship programme within the project. The mentors introduced themselves to the participants and each of them briefly presented their sports life, starting from elementary school to the present day.

Project team meeting and field visit within the ECOWAM project

Within the framework of the “Ecological Water Management against Extreme Weather Conditions in the Borders Region – ECOWAM”, on 9th and 10th December 2019, there was a joint project team meeting in Szeged and a field visit to the Kurca main channel near Mindszent, Szegvár and Szentes where the works covered by the ECOWAM project are being executed. The meeting and field visit were organized by the Lower Tisza District Water Directorate – ATIVIZIG and attended by the project team members of ATIVIZIG, PWMC “Vode Vojvodine” Novi Sad and European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina.
During the meeting, the members of the project team discussed the activities implemented so far, as well as the upcoming activities in the following period. During the field visit the ATIVIZIG experts informed the project team about the start of the works covered by the ECOWAM project on the Hungarian side and dynamics of their execution. The works on the dredging of the Kurca main canal started in October. At Szegvár, the preparations have been completed, the reed has been cut and the Kurca canal is to be dredged in the length of 5 km. At Szentes, the works on the construction of a new sluice – Bikaistálló have started. The old sluice has been pulled down and the construction of a new, twice as large sluice has been planned. After the construction, a monitoring station has been planned to be constructed.

The “Eco-friendly water management against extreme weather conditions in the cross-border area – ECOWAM” project, is being implemented under the Interreg IPA Cross-border Cooperation programme Hungary-Serbia. The partnership in the project, which total budget amounts to EUR 1,758,447.43, of which the European Union’s co-financing (IPA) amounts to EUR 1,494,680.31, consists the Lower Tisza District Water Directorate – ATIVIZIG (Hungary), PWMC “Vode Vojvodine” Novi Sad (Serbia) and the European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina (Serbia). The project aims at preventing the negative effects on the quality of water bodies by establishing a joint system of improvement of water management in AP Vojvodina and Csongrád County.

Symposium on parasport in Indjija

In Indjija, a symposium was held within the framework of the “Social integration through parasport – Parainspired!” project, which is being co-financed by the European Union under the IPA II Cross-border Program Serbia-Bosnia and Herzegovina 2014-2020.

The symposium “Opportunities for Social Integration through Parasport” was opened by Vladimir Batez, Provincial Secretary for Sports and Youth, emphasizing how important it was to create conditions for increasing the participation of persons with disabilities in sports activities and for making sports infrastructure more accessible to those persons.

“The success and strength of our Paralympians should be a motive for others to start playing sports, to get as many young people with disabilities involved in sports activities and to regard sports as an environment that creates winners every day. The importance of this project is reflected not only in the achievement of the right to equality of persons with disabilities for physical activity and sport, which is the goal, but also more broadly, in motivating and engaging in social movements, stimulating tourist and cultural events, as it all contributes to awareness raising, acquiring knowledge and skills and developing attitudes that are essential for embracing diversity”, Batez said in Indjija. He added that the best example of successful inclusion of persons with disabilities in sports in our province was among the table tennis players, winners of the highest European and world medals.

Batez reminded of the fact that the funds for the implementation of the project “Social integration through parasport – Parainspired!” project, which was being implemented by the Provincial Secretariat for Sports and Youth together with partners – the Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Municipality of Indjija and European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina, amounted to EUR 263,914.43, of which the EU co-financing was EUR 224,327.27.

The president of the municipality of Indjija, Vladimir Gak especially thanked for the support and participation of the Provincial Secretariat for Sports and Youth in the project implementation.

“Thanks to this EU project, fifteen children with disabilities from this Srem municipality have engaged in sports activities, which is the best example of the effects of this project, which other municipalities and cities in our province can join”, Vladimir Gak said.
Our celebrated Paralympics Borislav Perić Ranković and Zlatko Kesler presented their experiences in sports and opportunities in our Paralympic sport.

“Social integration through parasport – Parainspired!” project, in which the Lead Beneficiary is the Provincial Secretariat for Sports and Youth, whereas the partners are the Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina, European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina and the Municipality of Indjija, encompasses a whole range of activities that began in June this year and its implementation lasts 15 months in total.