Deadline: 10-Feb-22
The European Union and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) within the program “Support to EU Social Housing and Active Inclusion” publish a public call for applications for technical support to local governments (LGUs) in developing or revising local housing strategies.
Objectives
- Overall objective: To contribute to the establishment or strengthening of policy, institutional, and organisational framework pertained to implementation of social housing at the local level.
- Specific objective: To enhance capacities of up to 30 LSGs to develop or revise local housing strategies and action plans in accordance with the Law on housing and maintenance of buildings.
Aims
The aim of the Public Call is to improve the capacity of up to 30 local self-government units for the development or revision of local housing strategies and action plans, in accordance with the Law on Housing and Building Maintenance. Technical support will include the following steps:
- establishment of municipal / city multisectoral working groups,
- development or revision of local housing strategies and action plans,
- establishing mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of strategies,
- development of procedures for cooperation between local service providers and local governments, where relevant,
- reorganization of local self-government, in order to provide a clearly defined structure or employees dealing with social housing issues and complementary measures of active inclusion, where relevant.
Duration
UNOPS will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the selected LSGs. The active provision of TA will last twelve (12) months from the day the MoU is signed.
Eligiblity Criteria
- In order to be eligible for support, the applicant must be:
- a local self-government on the territory of Serbia – city or municipality. In cases where LSG has a city status, only the city is the eligible applicant. Departments or authorities within local government are not deemed eligible applicants.
- The applicant must meet following additional mandatory requirements:
- Provide a Letter of Commitment for its active participation in the process, demonstrating unequivocal readiness to lead the processes of the development/revision of the local housing strategy
- Prepare and pass official LSG Decision to develop/revise a Local Housing Strategy The written LSG decision will ensure the appropriate legitimacy to the process, indicate political readiness and kick off activities to develop/revise the local housing strategy. The decision should:
- contain the reason why a local housing strategy is being developed/revised, i.e. what are the indications of the existence of needs to adopt/revise a strategy paper in the field of housing.
- designate the strategy development/revision lead. If an established housing agency exists, it shall be designated to be the strategy development/revision lead. Considering only several LSGs in Serbia have established Housing agencies, the implementer can also be the local administration department competent for housing.
- stipulate the period of time applicable to the strategy. The LSG should determine the period during which the strategy will be in force in accordance with the context and own needs.
- contain a deadline for the development/revision of the housing strategy. The deadline should be set up for May 2023 the latest.
- Form the Working Group for Local Housing Strategy development/revision The multi-sectoral working group should be formed and its members appointed by the LSG by way of decision. Mandatory composition of the Working Group includes a minimum of four professionals:
- a decision maker within the LSG, i.e. highest office holders in the administration, such as the mayor/president of the municipality, their deputies/assistants and/or LSG Council members and/or heads of administration/units
- a representative of the finance and budget unit within the LSG
- a person with the knowledge and experience in strategic planning within the LSG
- a representative of the center for social welfare
- Maximum number of Working Group members is limited to eight.
For more information, visit https://social-housing.euzatebe.rs/rs/konkursi
