On January 19, the State Audit Institution released the results of two of its 2020 performance audits revealing the need for the Government to increase its attention to address deficiencies in management of the School Modernization Program and insufficient collection of own-source revenues in Local self-governments in Serbia.

Students from 27 high schools from Sombor, Sremska Mitrovica, Novi Pazar and Kragujevac selected the projects to be implemented in 2021 in their schools, aiming to improve the overall teaching and learning environment for the students. As many as 15,000 students took part in the program of youth participation in local budget consultations, jointly facilitated by the USAID Government Accountability Initiative and the local self-governments. Through personal engagement, young people learned about the functioning of democratic process of direct decision-making and the ways of influencing the local government, thus making it closer to the citizens and more responsive to their interests and needs. All the selected projects will be financed from the local budgets and overall, the local self-governments allocated more than 14 million dinars to complete the works by the end of the following year.  

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is announcing the opportunity for Local Self-Governments to express interest for participation in the Government Accountability Initiative (GAI) Project. This year, GAI will provide technical support to the third group of up to twelve towns and municipalities to improve transparency and promote accountability in the work of local authorities; encourage greater citizen participation in the decision-making process and fight corruption.

Transparency Serbia and USAID presented the Local Transparency Index (LTI) for 2020 on May 29, 2020. The event was held online, with introductory speeches from Mr. Nemanja Nenadic, Transparency Serbia’s Program Director and Ms. Shanley Pinchotti, USAID Director of the Office for Democratic and Economic Growth. Also, mayors from the three highest scoring local governments – Bečej, Novi Pazar and Sombor, spoke of their experiences and motivation to work on strengthening the transparency of their local governments.

USAID Government Accountability Initiative and web portal Pištaljka have published Guide for Persons Authorized for Receiving and Investigating Whistle-Blowers Reports in Local Self-Government. The guide contains necessary information and instructions on how to organize an efficient internal whistle-blowing system in municipalities, as well as how to proceed with reports that authorized persons receive from whistleblowers, taking into account their identity.

The Government Accountability Initiative (GAI) and the agency Executive Group have published a Guide for the Use of Social Networks for Local Self-Governments, which aims to increase the transparency of the work of cities and municipalities, improve the communication of local administration with citizens, and enable public participation in decision-making process.

USAID Government Accountability Initiative (GAI) publishes Second Public call for local self-governments (LSGs) for expression of interest to participate in the Project. Based on this open call, GAI will select five to seven LSGs to sign Memoranda of Cooperation with USAID and to receive agreed technical assistance aimed to improve accountability, transparency, public participation and anticorruption.

The Government Accountability Initiative (GAI) opened the Call for Expressions of Interest for Local Self-Governments in Serbia and shared it with 144 municipalities on June 11, 2018. The Call invites all interested local self-governments to provide a concise expression of interest for collaboration with GAI to strengthen their governance structures.