Serbia

In October, 2011, a multi-ethnic group of 40 young people from South Serbia entered the first YouthBuild pilot in Serbia.  The C.S. Mott Foundation and the German Marshall Fund/Balkan Trust for Democracy provided the seed funding essential for this start up.   Civic Initiatives (CI), a well-regarded Serbian NGO, is YBI’s local implementing partner coordinating local community-based organizations and municipal officials.  CI’s long history training and mobilizing local citizens has provided a program design that responds to local needs, culture, history, and opportunities.  Young people from Roma, Albanian, and Serbian communities are working together to learn livelihood skills, practice leadership roles, and improve to their local communities through social action projects.  The group’s first project is to build wheelchair ramps to improve access to public buildings.  The Serbian Ministry of Youth and Sport has signed an MOU with YBI and is pledging to support the new project, along with other public, private, and NGO sector partners beginning in 2012.