Support to sustainable reintegration of returnees in Serbia

There are 211,972 beneficiaries of social assistance living in Serbia, but according to the Ombudsman about 500,000 Serbian citizens cannot meet basic subsistence needs. Families with three or more dependent children, the elderly, the sick and the unemployed are in the worst situation. Serbian citizens returned through the Readmission agreement are also among them. 846 persons have been deported from EU in 2019, while number of voluntary returnees is estimated to be much higher Most returnees have difficult access to the labor market and their main source of income is social assistance which is also hindering their timely reintegration.

Project objective is to improve mental health and reintegration/integration capacities of returnees and refugees/migrants/asylum seekers in Serbia.

Main project activities are:

• Provision of psychological support.
• Provision of psychiatric support.
• Provision of medical support.
• Provision of psychosocial support to returnee families through a network of voluntary case managers.
• Provision of capacity building training for volunteers and field workers on “Mental health status of returnees, refugees/migrants/asylum seekers and other vulnerable population groups”.
• Provision of supervision sessions for project staff and volunteers.

The services we provide are supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH under the Migration for Development (PME) Programme. The Programme is part of the global initiative “Returning to New Opportunities” of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The project is implemented in cooperation with the Union of Social Work Students of the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade.

Project duration is from December 1st 2020 to February 28th 2023.

Contact person: Sanja Djurica, Project Manager, e-mail: sdjurica@ian.org.rs