On that occasion, Ursula Läubli, Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Serbia, pointed out that in a situation where a significant number of migrants are stranded in the country with fewer opportunities to move on legally, there is further room for the Swiss to support vulnerable migrants. She highlighted the importance of the joint effort and cooperation of national partners and an international agency, undertaken in a complementary manner with other Swiss-supported projects.

Lidija Markovic, Head of Office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Serbia, stated that the curriculum development is a solid step towards enabling social protection workers to use an improved PSS program in working with migrants. She stressed that the curriculum also seeks to strengthen the link between different actors providing migrant support and protection in local communities, and therefore improved and optimal usage of the available resources for PSS.

Mirjana Cojbasic, Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Social and Veteran Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, stressed that the training program will certainly be very useful and beneficial for people working in this field. She stated that it is very good that the program will be accredited and therefore integrated into the social protection system as a whole, in a systemic and long-term manner. 

The project is implemented within the Swiss Migration partnership strategy for the Western Balkans by the IOM, in cooperation with the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Social and Veteran Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and the Republic Institute for Social Protection with a total budget of 590’000 EUR.