Since July 2021, RES Foundation has been implementing the project “Improving the support to households to reduce air pollution”, which is being implemented with the financial support of the Balkan Trust for Democracy, the German Marshall Fund and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade.
In cooperation with the Standing Conference of Cities and Municipalities and the cities of Niš, Kraljevo, Novi Pazar and Užice and the municipalities of Priboj and Kosjerić, the project conducted analyzes in the recent months and enabled exchange of information and experiences on implementing programs and measures to reduce air pollution from individual sources, according to the public call of the Ministry of Environmental Protection from 2021.
A review of previous results and experiences, as well as the presentation of the Guide with recommendations for more efficient implementation of programs for co-financing measures to reduce air pollution from individual sources, was organized during the final conference of the project “Improving the support to households to reduce air pollution”.
In addition to the representatives of the mentioned cities and municipalities, who directly implemented measures to reduce air pollution during 2021, the conference was also attended by representatives of local self-government units that competed in the recently announced public call of the Ministry of Environmental Protection to co-finance projects for air pollution reduction from individual sources in 2022.
The conference was opened by Ms. Sandra Dokić, Assistant Minister for Environmental Protection. She emphasized the importance of the dialogue between the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the representatives of local self-governments, as well as the importance of information from the field for the ministries. As one of the important interests of the Ministry, Ms. Dokić stated her interest in facilitating the application for the public call and simplifying the process itself, and that she and her colleagues from the Ministry are fully aware that, in the end, the complete realization of projects lies in local self-government units.
The conference was attended by energy managers, heads of organizational units for environmental protection, representatives of the Offices for Local Economic Development from all 6 local governments that implemented measures to reduce air pollution during 2021, as well as from 10 municipalities and cities that will implement these measure for the first time during 2022. At the Conference, experiences and information were exchanged on the course of the competition, potential measures to reduce air pollution from individual sources, criteria and procedures for the selection of subsidy beneficiaries, etc. This data and information will be used to prepare a Guide with recommendations for other local self-government units in order to more effectively implement measures to reduce air pollution from individual sources in future public calls.
