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CEI KEP ITALY: kick-off meeting for project “Emergency management and community resilience - a goal for Serbia” held in Belgrade

The Serbian Institute for Public Health “Dr. Milan Jovanovic Batut” as project beneficiary institution, hosted the Meeting at its headquarters in Belgrade on 26-29 January 2015.

The project stakeholders, including the representatives of the Batut Institute, of the Red Cross of Serbia and of the Know-how providing institution, the Italian Superior Health Institute (Istituto Superiore di Sanità, ISS), attended the 3-day seminar during which the project objectives, timeline, and specific roles of the partnering institutions were discussed. Possible challenges, risks and solutions were also addressed while a list of actors to be involved in the project has been finalised. The Scientific Attachè of the Italian Embassy in Belgrade, Paolo Battinelli, as well as representatives of several local NGOs were also present.

The overall objective of the project - based on the existing collaboration between the two institutions confirmed by the Memorandum of Understanding signed in May 2014 - is capacity strengthening of the beneficiaries in the field of disaster risk reduction, preparedness and prevention. In particular, it aims at establishing a research and training laboratory in the field of disaster prevention and mitigation with the final goal of reducing mortality, enhancing response capacity and improving local communities’ management to avoid health-related risks. The foreseen project activities include workshops, study visits, training activities, a regional conference and the constitution of a coordination committee and of a group of experts on disaster management.

During his address to the participants of the Kick-off meeting, the Director of Batut Institute, Dragan Ilic, stressed the importance of the partnership between his institution and the ISS as an important step towards a broader cooperation between Italy and Serbia in the field of disaster prevention and mitigation.

The project is co-financed with a grant within the CEI Know How Exchange Programme (KEP ITALY) in the framework of the CEI Fund at the EBRD, fully contributed by Italy. The CEI grant amounts to 25,000 EUR out of the total project cost of around 60,000 EUR. The 12-month project will be running until December 2015.

Fore more information: dovier@cei.int, biadene@cei.int
 

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