OFFICE FOR COOPERATION WITH CIVIL SOCIETY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

PRESENTATION OF ANNUAL CONSOLIDATED REPORT ON

SPENDING OF FUNDS PLANNED AND DISBURSED TO ASSOCIATIONS AND OTHER CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS FROM THE BUDGET OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA AS SUPPORT TO PROJECT AND PROGRAMMATIC ACTIVITIES

OFFICE FOR COOPERATION WITH CIVIL SOCIETY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

The Office for Cooperation with the Civil Society was established on the basis of the Regulation on the Office for Cooperation with the Civil Society (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia no. 26/10) as a Government service ensuring consistency of actions of the state institutions and promoting cooperation of the state institutions with the associations and other CSOs; Development of the Annual Consolidated Report for the Government about the expenditure of funds provided and paid to associations and other civil society organisations from the budget of the Republic of Serbia as support to programmatic activities; The first report of this kind was prepared by the Office in 2012 and it consisted of the analysis of the collected data from the line ministries and other Government institutions at the level of the Republic on the funds allocated from the 2011 Budget of the Republic of Serbia; This years Report has been developed on the basis of the reports of the institutions at the republican, provincial and local levels.

OFFICE FOR COOPERATION WITH CIVIL SOCIETY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

DECREE ON FINANCING CSOs

Decree on Incitement funds for programs or shortage of funds for financing programs of public interest realised by associations (Official Gazette of the RS, No. 8/12) introduce of an obligation to publish a public call for allocation of funds; Announcement of public calls is mandatory; Publication of conditions and criteria of public calls is mandatory; Obligation to report on the approved programmes/projects; Obligation to establish selection committee; Obligation to develop regular financial reports and reports about the execution of the supported programmes/projects by the implementors.

OFFICE FOR COOPERATION WITH CIVIL SOCIETY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

ABOUT THE REPORT

It presents a sum of the funds planned and approved in support CSOs from the public proceeds; Gives an overview of the allocation procedures; Gives an overview of the monitoring of results of the supported programmes/projects; Gives information on all the supported programmes/projects as well as the overview of CSOs that were granted support; Gives information about the areas in which the approved programmes/projects were implemented and their beneficiaries as well as data on territorial distribution of the programmes and projects funded; It provides an overview of the sources of funding and economic classification wherefrom the funds to support the CSOs programmes/projects are disbursed.

OFFICE FOR COOPERATION WITH CIVIL SOCIETY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

METHODOLOGY
Office for Cooperation with NGOs of the Government of the Republic of Croatia good practice model; Questionnaire on budget expenditures intended for associations and other CSOs was created; Two Questionnaires one for collection of data from the institutions at republican and provincial levels, and the other for collection of data at the local level posted as an e-application on the Internet page of the Office; User names and passwords for each individual institution were created; Three key sections: - information about institution, type and the amount of support provided to CSOs; - information about the complete procedures for allocation of funds; - information about each public call/other procedure of allocation of funds and about each approved programmes/projects within the framework of that procedure.

OFFICE FOR COOPERATION WITH CIVIL SOCIETY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

REPORT RESUME
The request to collect data about the financial and non-financial support to CSOs was sent to 100 addresses of the State institutions, their bodies and independent agencies, 17 institutions of AP Vojvodina, 167 local governments as well as to the addresses of 32 internal organisational units of the Belgrade City Administration; f the total 316 requests sent, 206 institutions (60%) responded - 114 institutions replied positively to the question about the approved financial and non-financial support to CSOs.

OFFICE FOR COOPERATION WITH CIVIL SOCIETY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

REPORT RESUME 76mil was disbursed at all levels of the government in the Republic of Serbia: - 22 republican institutions disbursed 51.5mil - 71 local government units disbursed 11mil - City Administrations of Belgrade, Novi Sad and Ni disbursed 13.5 mil - five institutions of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina disbursed RSD 430000 The Ministry of Youth and Sports with 47.04%, the Ministry of Finance and Economy approved 40% of the total funds at the level of the Republic followed by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Policy 5.62% of the total funds.

OFFICE FOR COOPERATION WITH CIVIL SOCIETY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

This kind of data is collected with a view to: Establishing a more transparent system of reporting on financial and non-financial support to CSOs; Strengthen fiscal accountability; Enhance informing of citizens about the results achieved by the programmes and projects supported from the State budget; Advance the regular processes of planning, allocation of funds, monitoring of execution of the supported projects and programmes and its impact;

OFFICE FOR COOPERATION WITH CIVIL SOCIETY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

This kind of data is collected with a view to: Raise the efficiency and effectiveness of the spending for fulfilling the set objectives; Stimulates and develops integrity and accountability of operation of the state institutions; Increases the confidence of citizens in the work of both - state institutions and CSOs; Allows the citizens to gain insight into what the funds of tax payers are earmarked for, and the State agencies to monitor development of the civil society sector and their participation in implementation of the policies defined.

OFFICE FOR COOPERATION WITH CIVIL SOCIETY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS

The procedures and criteria for funding CSOs must be observed by all the agencies at republican, provincial and local levels; Avoid allocations of funds that were not subject to public calls, but were decided by managers; Promote co-funding of CSOs from the budget with a view to a more successful utilisation of EU IPA funds; Monitor the results of the supported projects and programmes against the defined strategic objectives within the framework of sectoral policies; Monitor the implementation of the supported programmes/projects by monitoring visits; In selecting the members of professional bodies for evaluation of applications to public calls/other procedures of allocation of funds, give consideration to their expertise, knowledge of the civil sector functioning and the importance of their cooperation with public administration institutions, impartiality and readiness to conduct evaluations professionally and objectively.

Thank you!
Government of the Republic of Serbia Office for cooperation with Civil Society

office@civilnodrustvo.gov.rs www.civilnodrustvo.gov.rs www.facebook.com/vladaOCDrs Twitter @vladaOCDrs