"Development of comprehensive Independent Living Support system in Central Serbia" is the project of 7 partner institutions and organisations from Jagodina, Ćićevac and Žabari supported by the European Union through IPA 2012 programme. This project joined the City of Jagodina, Municipalit of Ćićevac and Municipality of Žabari, in partnership with their social service providers – City Centre for Social Work Jagodina, Red Cross Ćićevac and Centre for Social Work Žabari. The Centre for Social and Economic Development from Jagodina is the lead applicant in charge for providing expert support to community-based social service (CBSS) development.

The project is aimed at setting up sustainable and high quality home care services for adult and elderly users with intellectual and mental disabilities, based on creation of new jobs in social protection.

The purpose of the home care service is to help users satisfy their everyday needs, in order to improve or sustain the quality of their life. The home care service provided on the project “Development of comprehensive Independent Living Support System in Central Serbia'' is intended for persons with intellectual and mental disabilities who are unable to live independently in their homes without regular assistance in everyday activities, care and oversight of another person and who have insufficient assistance from their family or no assistance at all. The home care service developed under the joint project is an innovative service; though home care has been present in Serbia for a long time, in Ćićevac, Jagodina and Žabari it had not been previously provided to users with intellectual and mental disabilities, so the project will significantly contribute to assessing the applicability of this service to new groups of users.

Project “Development of comprehensive independent living support system in Central and Eastern Serbia” targets persons with mental disability and mental health disorders that currently reside in the area least covered by residential psychiatric hospitals. By providing upgraded Home Care service that focuses on development of skills necessary for independent living, the Action enables:

Support to persons leaving the residential care. Persons with mental disability and mental disorders who are leaving residential care (health or social protection system) will be provided with a high quality tailor made support that focuses on independent living skills. Previously, persons leaving the institutions were left largely unsupported by both primary health care and social work centres; however lack of support was not the result of institutional apathy, but lack of mechanism to support persons with mental disability and mental health disorders after their return into community. Lack of support mechanisms often leave persons unable to cope with simplest tasks that make independent living possible. Independent living associates will focus their efforts to re-establish life skills that tends to be forgotten because of long term institutionalisations, and to develop new skills needed for independent living.

Support to persons currently living in the community. Centres for Social Work in Jagodina, Cicevac and Zabari have developed Home assistance services that operate without difficulties for the past several years. However, support to persons with mental disability and mental health disorders will require some modifications to the existing service that will be achieved through staff trainings and service support system. Currently, Centres for Social Work in Jagodina, Zabari and Cicevac have list of persons with mental disability and mental health disorders that use the social services, mainly guardianship and disability assistance, but those services are focused mainly on families and do little to develop independence of users. By adapting Home assistance service to develop life skills, sustainable support will be organised that focus on possibilities of independent living.

Reduces the need for residential type services. Case management, tailor made to suite needs of persons with mental disability and mental health disorders, will focus on prevention of institutionalisation through development of life skills and bridging the gap between social services and other services that exist in the local level. By providing ongoing support and maintaining close relationship with users of services, it will be possible to act in timely manner in case of potential mental illness relapse, and mobilize primary health care. By cooperating with primary health care and development of independent life skills, it is expected that pressure on residential institutions will diminish.

Very successful, long-term, strategic, documented-through-projects and proven-in-practice cooperation between CDER and stakeholders in Jagodina, Žabari and Ćićevac has always been fruitful, because it was based on pre-project preparation, clear segregation of duties, joint management based on trust built in previous period and on implementation aimed at achieving results. The same applies to preparation of the present Action, where partners were driven by the following:

1. in all three municipalities, home care services have been developed on the initiative of and supported by CDER (it provided all key documents, rulebooks etc. on provision of social services and numerous trainings);


2. in all three communities, CBSSs are sustainable and provided pursuant to the national standards: in Ćićevac – CBSSs are provided although they are the "youngest"; in Jagodina, CBSSs are provided above the level prescribed by the national standards; in Žabari, CBSS provider will most likely be among the first social welfare organizations that will be licensed in a few months;


3. in all three communities, according to the Law on Social Welfare, local self governments have established partnerships with their CBBS providers that, having analyzed all available records and on-site situation, and by submitting findings in writing, have justified launching of new HC services to persons with mental disability and mental health disorders - LSGs have accepted that, and concluded that they could ensure required funds for both, the Action and sustainability of the services;


4. decision to establish the partnership between 3 municipalities was made due to cost-effectiveness: starting up new CBSS is cheaper if capacity building is done jointly;


5. decision that CDER be a project leader is a natural one, due to proven excellence in networking, capacity building, management and ensuring expert support in establishment and development of CBSS's.

The Action overall objective: Reintegration and institutionalisation prevention of persons with mental disability and mental health disorders in Jagodina, Žabari and Ćićevac.

The Action specific objectives:

1. Provided support to persons with mental disability and mental health disorders by sustainably upgrading and adapting community-based social services (CBSS);


2. Promoting citizen rights on independent living in community

The logic of objectives is the following: Partners provide maximum contribution to enhancing the social inclusion of persons with mental disability and mental health disorders (global objective of this Call of proposal) by reintegration and institutional prevention of those persons in our 3 communities (overall objective of our Action). Considering the fact that, both reintegration and prevention of institutionalization are currently impossible due to absence of adequate services that would support people with mental disability and mental health disorders, our Action will provide support to persons with mental disability and mental health disorders by sustainably upgrading and adapting community-based social services (1. Specific objective of the Action). Those CBSSs will act as a barrier to institutionalisation and provide precondition to return of persons into the community. Promoting citizen rights on independent living in community (2. Specific objective of the Action) will contribute to downgrading stigma and discrimination towards persons with mental disability and mental health disorders and raising awareness on benefits of independent life.

Cooperation of partners from 3 municipalities will enable joint and comparable development of procedures and practices setting up a new service, as well as stronger promotion at both local and national level. In each of the three local communities 6 independent living associates will be engaged, a total of 18 persons. Of the total project value of EUR 166,589, the budget for direct service provision in Jagodina is EUR 39,438, in Žabari EUR 39,778 and in Ćićevac EUR 40,568. The European Union funding amounts to EUR 141,601 and is supplemented with local co-financing. The project started on 1 July 2014 and will last 18 months, until 2016.