By hand over of certificates for 20 women from Novi Pazar and 20 from Bijelo Polje, who completed professional practice, the completion of the cross-border project within the IPA Cross-border Cooperation Program Serbia-Montenegro 2014-2020 funded by the European Union was marked. The total value of the project was 168,835 euros, of which the European Union provided 143.509 euros, while the rest was the contribution of the project partners.
At the final conferences within the project “Skilled Women’s Workforce for a Better Future” held in Novi Pazar and Bijelo Polje on 7th September 2020 , implemented by the Home for the Elderly Bijelo Polje in cooperation with the Center for Social Work Novi Pazar, the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs care of Montenegro, the achieved results are presented. The Project introduced new service – assistance to adults and elderly in home, that is in line with the Strategy for Social Welfare System for the Elderly 2018-2022 in Montenegro and with Strategy of social protection in Republic of Serbia 2019-2025.
„Forty women from the records of the National Employment Service have been trained to actively seek for jobs. Twenty women from Novi Pazar participated at the training for the job of home care giver and each received a certificate. In March, each of them started an internship lasting three months, despite the epidemic of the Covid 19 virus“, stated Project coordinator Emina Konicanin, emphasizing that the goal of the project is for each of the program participants to find a job.
Dijana Knezevic, on behalf of the Home for Elderly Bijelo Polje, familiarized the participants with the goals of the project and presented the results. “We have established and promoted co-operation between partners from Serbia and Montenegro, prepared 80 unemployed women for the labor market, and trained 40 of them for the job of home care giver and successfully completed the work practice,” she stated, adding that after the completion of work practice, project partners employed 3 home care givers who would continue to visit in project involved households.
A member of the City Council of Novi Pazar, Fevzija Murić, reminds that in 12 months, during project life, the Center for Social Work and its partners have achieved extraordinary results. „The cross-border cooperation project financed by the Delegation of the European Union is very useful because of the connection between Serbia and Montenegro, at the level of cooperation of individual local communities. This time it is about a project that is extremely important for the citizens themselves. As the project was mostly realized during the pandemic, the help of home care givers to elderly and infirm citizens in the field was even more valuable. Due to the period of isolation of the old and infirm home care givers were for some time their only link with the outside world, someone who supplied them with food and took maximum care of them, Murić pointed out.
