Information/outreach campaign on opportunities for return to Kosovo

Vranje, June 24, 2014 – The first in a line of information/outreach campaigns aiming to inform internally displaced persons and the general public on opportunities for sustainable return to Kosovo was held today at the City Hall of Vranje Municipality. The subject was discussed by the officials of organizations Arbeiter – Samariter – Bund (ASB), Danish Refugee Council (DRC) as well as the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia, and the citizens who attended the gathering had the opportunity to ask questions about the concrete support they can receive if they choose to return to Kosovo. During the presentation, the importance of cooperation of all relevant stakeholders in providing support to internally displaced persons in order to successfully realize the basic project objectives was particularly emphasized.

Since June 2014, the Arbeiter–Samariter–Bund and Sveti Nikola, a civil association, have launched a number of information/outreach campaigns on the territory of the Republic of Serbia aiming to provide all the interested internally displaced persons with all the relevant and timely information on the project itself as well as the support to be provided to them in the process of return and reintegration. The information/outreach campaigns are also planned to be held in Niš, Smederevo, Aranđelovac, Čačak, Kragujevac, Jagodina, Kruševac, Kraljevo and Valjevo and they represent the first step in the activities that are going to be implemented within the two projects financed from the EU funds: “Support to sustainable return and reintegration of IDPs in Kosovo” and “Enhancing IDPs return and reintegration opportunities”.

The Project “Support to sustainable return and reintegration of IDPs in Kosovo” is carried out by the Arbeiter–Samariter– Bund (ASB), a German NGO, and Sveti Nikola, a civil association, and financed with the EU funds via the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia and co-financed with the ASB funds, whereas the project “Enhancing the IDPs return and reintegration opportunities” is financed with the EU funds via the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia and co-financed with the UNHCR funds, and carried out by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) in cooperation with Božur and Sveti Spas.