Civil Society Association Rainbow, with support from UNFPA Serbia, and in partnership with Local Youth Office of Šabac, initiated revision of the Local Action Plan for Youth for the City of Šabac with aim to include measures to address personal safety, health (with the special focus on prevention of HIV and STDs), and education options for the most vulnerable youth in the city: young Roma, children and youth living and working on the street.
In 2018 the City administration of Šabac adopted the Local Action Plan (LAP) for Youth for the period 2018-2021, a strategic document based on the results of the Survey on the needs and situation of the young people of Šabac, conducted by Youth Office and Youth Council of Šabac. The LAP is in line with the National Youth Strategy 2015-2025, in terms of its priority areas: employment and entrepreneurship, voluntarism and activism, health of youth, safety and Culture, and leisure time. The LAP contains specific objectives and activities to achieve the results, indicators and budget necessary for each activity implementation. In the area of health significance is given to reproductive health, developmental-psychological problems, mental health and substance abuse, as well as to abuse and neglect. Planned activities within the first priority encompass new preventive programmes, increased knowledge and skills of young people related to health, including promotion of HIV prevention and testing.
The needs of the most vulnerable youth - young Roma, children and youth who live and work on the street - have not been specifically addressed by the LAP for Youth, despite the fact that due to harsh living conditions, poverty, exclusion from the school system, stigma and discrimination they are at a higher risk of violence and abuse and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV.
In order to improve the document, the Association Rainbow, through the Youth Office and Youth Council, launched the initiative to form a working group of the representatives of all relevant stakeholders in the City of Šabac to draft the LAP revision to include specific activities addressing the needs, health and safety of the most vulnerable youth. Inclusion of these activities in the official strategic document of Šabac would enable their continual implementation while increasing the visibility of the problems and needs of these groups in the community. The final project activity will be the submission of the draft revision document to the Assembly of City of Šabac with an official request to revise the LAP for Youth.
The project "Increasing visibility within the local action plan of the issues facing young people from vulnerable groups” will contribute towards building the capacity of the local institutions to recognize and respond to the needs of the vulnerable youth who are hard to reach as they are not included in the education system. In addition, the project will reach out to the most marginalized youth and enable activities to build their awareness and knowledge about the known health risks and available health protection prevention measures. Project activities can be followed on UNFPA Serbia and Association Rainbow social media.
UNFPA Serbia is very pleased to support Association Rainbow during this project whose reach will improve the living conditions of the marginalised youth in Šabac. The Local Action Plan for Youth is a strategic document of high importance and relevance that can be replicated by other municipalities, thus contributing to the overall sustainable development and implementation of Agenda 2030 in Serbia.
Funds for the project have been made available from the Unified Budget, Results and Accountability Framework (UBRAF), a UNAIDS instrument to maximize the coherence, coordination and impact of the UN's response to AIDS.
