INCEPTION REPORT

Republic of Serbia

1. General information

Name of Country - Serbia - Republic of Serbia is a country situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe in the southern Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. It borders Hungary to the north, Romania to the northeast, Bulgaria to the southeast, North Macedonia to the south, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to the west, and Montenegro to the southwest. The country claims a border with Albania through the disputed territory of Kosovo. Serbia's population numbers approximately seven million. Its capital, Belgrade, ranks among the longest inhabited and largest citiеs in southeastern Europe.

The official language is Serbian, native to 88% of the population.Serbian is the only European language with active two writing language using both Cyrillic and Latin alphabets.

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers. The urban area of Belgrade has a population of 1.23 million, while nearly 1.7 million people live within the administrative limits of the City of Belgrade (which encompasses almost all of its metropolitan area), a quarter of the total population of Serbia.[4] Being Serbia's primate city, Belgrade has special administrative status within Serbia.[12] It is the seat of the central government, administrative bodies, and government ministries, as well as home of almost all of the largest Serbian companies, media, and scientific institutions.

• Area (sq. km) – Including Kosovo – 88,361 km2 ; Excluding Kosovo 77.474 km2

• Life expectancy - 75.24 years

• Infant mortality rate - the infant mortality rate in Serbia was at about 5 deaths per 1,000 live births.

• Maternal mortality rate - 12 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)

• Literacy rate – 98.1%

• Population

• Education System (Number of schools & students in each district)

• Health System (Number of hospitals in each district) o North Backi 6 o Middle Banatski 10 o North Banatski 13 o South Banatski 16 o West Backi 8 o South Backi 28 o Sremski 12 o Macvanski 14 o Kolubarski 9 o Podunavski 9 o Branicevski 12 o Sumadijski 16 o Pomoravski 12 o Borski 9 o Zajecarski 11 o Zlatiborski 16 o Moravicki 10 o Raski 15 o Rasinski 10 o Nisavski 21 o Toplicki 6 o Pirotski 7 o Jablanicki 9 o Pcinjski 15 o Grad Beograd 56 o Total 354

• Major Industry (Number of people working for each industry) and Employment rate

2. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

• Laws concerned with persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities ✓ Family Law ✓ The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia ✓ Law on financial support to families with children ✓ Law on Health Care ✓ Law on Social Protection ✓ Law on Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ✓ Law for uses sing language ✓ Law on movement with the help of a guide dog ✓ Law on Prevention of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities ✓ Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination ✓ Law on Fundamentals of the Education System ✓ Law on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities ✓ Law on Teachings and Other Teaching Materials ✓ Law on the Protection of Persons with Mental Disorders

• Financial Assistance for persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilitie

The user receives financial support through: - financial social assistance, - allowance for assistance and care of another person, - work training assistance, - one-off financial assistance, The right to financial social assistance belongs to the individual, or family, who through their work, income from property or from other sources they generate income less than the amount of financial social assistance determined by this law. The right to financial social assistance may, among other things, be exercised by the worker able individual or family member if he or she takes care of his own child with disability so that he cannot be employed. An individual who is incapable of work, or a family of all members incapacitated and single parent families are entitled to increased cash social assistance. The law provides, inter alia, for the right to increased money can get social assistance a person who is completely incapable of working according to labor regulations and o pension and disability insurance; - a pregnant woman and the parent of a child who uses maternity leave and leave from work for the care of a child according to labor regulations; - the person to whom the capacity determination procedure was initiated or legal capacity deprivation - while the process is ongoing. The right to the allowance for the assistance and care of another person is granted to the person who is due to his / her physical disability or sensory impairment, intellectual disabilities, or changes in health the condition necessary help and care of another person in the realization of basic life activities.The need for help and care for another person exists with the person from The law provides that the amount of the monthly allowance for the assistance and care of another person is 7 600 dinars. The right to an increased allowance for the assistance and care of another person is vested in the person he or she is on Based on the regulations on pension and disability insurance, physical damage of 100 percent on a single basis, or have permanent organic neurological disorder or of the psychic type. The person with more impairment is also entitled to the increased allowance, with the level of damage being 70% higher than the percentage on at least two grounds. The law also provides that one of the non-working parents who for at least 15 years directly nursing his or her child who has been granted the right to be enlarged the allowance for the assistance and care of another person is entitled to a special financial benefit in kind a lifetime monthly cash. The monthly amount of the increased fee is 20500 dinars. On the right to financial social assistance, the right to assistance and care for another and the right to an increased allowance for the assistance and care of another person, decides the centre for social work and welfare.

• Services including CBR available for persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Social services for the persons with intellectual disabilities that are the responsibility of local governments are classified into four groups: 1. The daily services in the community, which include the following services: living room, home assistance and personal escort the child. Within this group of services the local governments can provide other services that are also intended to support users to stay in the family and their natural environment. 2. Support services for independent living include service of support necessary for active and independent participation of users in the society, such as: personal assistance for adults with intellectual disabilities, supported housing people with intellectual disabilities. To this group belong to the services and programs of training / education, enabling users independence and improvement of skills for independent living. 3. The advisory-therapeutic and social-educational services are: intensive support services to the family in crisis through counseling and support for parents of persons with intellectual disabilities, Concerning services intended for children and young persons, the most frequently organized services are: day care for children and youth with intellectual disabilities and developmental disorders, personal assistant and supported housing for the young persons who are getting trained for independent living.

• Number of services and those beneficiaries in each district (province)

Social care services of local governments are classified into four groups: 1. Day care community-based services, including the following services: day care, home care, child personal attendant and drop-in centre. Services for independent living are the type of services, i.e. the type of support, needed for clients’ active and independent participation in society. 3. Counselling services comprise: intensive support services for families in crises through counselling and support to parents, foster parents and adoptive parents, families caring for their children or adult members with developmental disabilities;

In Belgrade in September 1990, opened the center for the Center for the Accommodation and Day Care of Children and Youth with Disabilities. The Center provides treatment within day and inpatient care, for children and young people with various types of disorders - hearing impairment, mental retardation and autism.About 440 children and young people are cared for in the Center. About 110 defectologists of different orientations were hired - oligophrenologists, surdoaudiologists, speech therapists, reeducators of psychomotor- occupational therapists and 6 professors of physical education. The Center for the Accommodation and Day Care of Children and Youth with Disabilities is a social care institution, which has 10 day care centers for children and youth with autism and intellectual disabilities. The main function of the Centre's day-care centers is the day-care of persons with disabilities with the provision of adequate defectological treatment, followed by nutrition and preventive health care services, as well as greater inclusion and participation in social life.

3. Outline of your Organization

• Background, vision, strategy ; Major programs, covered areas, covered population ; number of beneficiaries

The Belgrade Sports Union for People with disabilities is an organization with a long tradition and reputation, that was founded 1970. Activities are organized only on the territory city of Belgrade.

The work span is really wide provided by the Union for the users through more than 40 hours a week throughout all year round-corrective gymnastics and fitness programs, athletics, swimming, wheelchair basketball, sitting volleyball, chess, wheelchair dancing, cycling, boccia, table tennis, goalball, fencing, bowling, shooting, and many more through different professional work levels involving 15 different sport schools . We have 35 organizations with 1000 members from all parts of the city and we provide services to more than 1,550 people of all ages and all types of disabilities. Majority of 1550 people are the people with intellectual disabilities (60- 70 %). We manage this through a number of areas of work, a variety of activities and events throughout the year which include about 4,000 participants, not only from Belgrade, but also from abroad.

The realization of the program of activities alliance shall directly cooperate with organizations of civil society and the basic partnership and support of a local government organs more accurately the city of Belgrade ( Secretariat for Sports and Youth, Secretariat for Social protection ), which provides basic means of the work, and make available the appropriate capacities in the sports center of the city of Belgrade. And with all school, associations and institutions that work with children with disabilities. In the last 5 years, we organize the continued sport activity for over 1,000 people with disabilities. We organize over 50 sporting events during the year, 6 which are international. One of them is the largest event for people with disabilities in Serbia, International sports game for people with disabilities Belgrade open where over 800 people with disabilities from Serbia and abroad and competing in 13 sports.We participate in all the big sports events in Belgrade (Belgrade Marathon , Santa Claus race, Olympic Day Run…) Also we take part in several competitions abroad (Malmo open in Sweden, Oaza game in BIH, LaGrande Sfida in ItalEvery year we giving job for 5 people with disabilities for 4 months to work and take experience about job in office or to how to be trainer or assistant.

We had realized many projects: Project Sport for all which was conducted with support Unicef. Project promotion inclusion for kids, organize sports training and events for children with and without disabilities. Project Modelling Inclusive outdoors Playgrounds for children. This project aims at building of two inclusive playgrounds to ensure social inclusion of children with disabilities through high quality outdoor recreational activities. Children’s play can be a powerful tool for transforming community attitudes and empowering individuals through the acquisition of social skills, self- confidence and positive relationships. Play works to improve the inclusion and wellbeing of children with disabilities in two ways – by changing what communities think and feel about people with disabilities and by changing what children with disability think and feel about themselves. The first is necessary to reduce stigma. The second point empowers children with disabilities and families so that they recognize their potential, and advocate for changes in society. The community impact and individual impact helps to reduce isolation of children with disabilities, and integrate them more into community life. Program for support young sports talents and training of sports experts who work with people with disabilities - finance from Secretary for sport and youth. Continuous implementation of sports activities in the integral rehabilitation of persons with disabilities, finance from Secretary for social welfare - The program is designed to provide the necessary conditions for the implementation of adapted sports activities for the purpose of rehabilitation of PWD. It is intended for socially disadvantaged persons with disabilities, whose health status is seriously impaired due to physical inactivity. That we all have the same conditions - Continuous physical activity is necessary for maintaining and improving the psychophysical state, Raising awareness and education on the importance of physical activity for health; Raising new health status of people with disabilities

(3) Your position and duty

Organizing sport events from start to end, sent invitations, organize participants and make schedules for the event together with the final report after the event is done. I’m in charge of organizing participation and also a head trainer at the sports events in Belgrade (Belgrade marathon) or international events – Malmo open in Sweden, Games of Oaza – Bosnia and Hercegovina, La grande sfida – Italy. Organizer of sports camp and head trainer for people with intellectual disabilities. This camp is organized twice a year and lasts 7 days, without parents and assistant.Coordinator of the biggest competition in Balkan for Pwd – International sports game for PwD - Belgrade open. This event hosts nore than 800 athletes competing in 13 sports, for all types of disabilities and ages.Trainer for swimming, athletic, program of motor development, fitness, and elementary sports games.Organizer of seminar- “Sport inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities” and one of the lecturers.In charged in writing projects, coordinating and monitoring the implementation of the following projects. Communication with parents, school teachers and assistance. Helping them to understand the school system. Making professional practice for students from Faculty for sport and physical education and Faculty for special education and rehabilitation.

4. Community Development Program for Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Some of the current projects that contribute to improving the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

• Enhancing and structuring support services for Persons with disabilities for independent living in undeveloped municipalities. The project is implemented by NGO “Child’s heart” in partnership with the Association for helping persons with mental disability “Biser” in Srbobran municipality. Duration of the project is six months and it will be implemented in the 3 territory. General objective of the project is to prevent institutionalisation of vulnerable groups through structuring social services and fulfilling conditions for their licensing in undeveloped municipalities in Serbia. Implementation of project’s activities will be carried out in three phases: The 1st phase involves connecting representatives of municipal authorities and other decision makers regarding social issues with social services providers through focus groups in three towns. In this way we develop and strengthen the system of support for vulnerable groups as well as the entire social structure of local community. The 2nd phase includes strengthening the capacity of different social services providers through specially created education. Developing professional competencies of service providers. The 3rd phase refers to preparation of social services providers to apply for getting license for the service they are providing to Republic Institute so they could be able to continue with their work and to raise the quality level of the services they are providing. The project is financed by the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy.

• Institution “Predah” is a short-term and occasional placement of children and young people with disabilities, which is provided as a daily, weekend or multi-day accommodation, which supports both the child and the child's family in maintaining and improving their quality of life. Beneficiaries of the PREDAH service are children and young people aged 5 to 26 years with intellectual disabilities and autism, with multiple disabilities, sensory and physical disabilities. The service can be provided for a maximum of 45 days during the year, of which a maximum of 20 days continuously. Admission of users to the PREDAH service is achieved by contacting the competent Center for social welfare, which provides complete referral documents.

• Oazi Golubinci implements the project "OAZA - a Living Community for Persons with Disabilities". From April until the end of December, in Oasis, adults with disabilities who are in need of independence - primarily because of the risk of institutionalization - participate in several work activities, educational and psychosocial activities. The project is focused primarily on further enhancing the life support service for the disabled community. Users are taught daily the life skills necessary for their independence, with the help of hosts, volunteers and locals.

• Mental Disability Rights Initiative of Serbia (MDRI-Serbia) In partnership with the Association „Naša Kuća“ from Belgrade, MDRI-S is implementing the project „Equality before the law as a precondition for employment of persons with disabilities-EQUALIZER”, supported by the European Union. The project duration is 24 months. The project is intended notably for progressive improvement of laws, policies and practices that restrict the right to be equal before the law and prohibit employment for persons with disabilities and the social stigma challenged. The implementation of this 2-years project has started in December 2018.

5. Situation of Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

• Diagnosis (professional responsible for diagnosis)

In Serbia, there is a legal basis for all children to be entitled to free health care, which includes the timely diagnosis of a child's health from a young age. Depending on the type of disability, the diagnosis is made at different ages of the child. If it is a common syndrome that is recognized in our area, it is very early to get a diagnosis, usually shortly after birth. If rare syndromes are involved, it may take a long time to diagnose. When it comes to developmental disorders, the diagnosis comes much later than is the case in other developed countries. A diagnosis of intellectual disability is made when it becomes evident that the child is not following the intellectual development of his or her peers without being part of another syndrome. Unfortunately, our system does not yet have a national early intervention system in place, which would cover the entire territory of our republic and raise the quality of diagnostics, early detection and bring together a team of experts who would be specialized in specific diagnostic procedures. The difficulties that accompany the subsequent diagnosis, as well as the underdeveloped sensitivity and awareness of employees throughout the health care system, do not often lead to levels of additional difficulties, which are again diagnosed irrespective of the initial problem of the child. This is very recognizable in the field of assessing undesirable behavioural patterns of children and adults with developmental disabilities. Unfortunately, it is often the case that they receive additional psychiatric diagnoses, and that the basis of such behaviours is actually a problem in communication, emotional and social limitations. As a consequence of the untimely and non-holistic diagnosis in this field, we have a large number of children and adolescents with developmental disabilities who use psychiatric medication instead of receiving other forms of support that would directly affect the problem. It seems to be slowly raising awareness of how important it is to establish entire team of associates of different professions to evaluate the child and make a diagnosis, and that it is very important to make a diagnosis as early as possible in order to develop the maximum of their capacity at an early age. It also recognizes the need to develop local counselling centres and specialized diagnostic centres so that all persons have access within their local community. There is also a need for early detection and diagnosis of developmental disorders to become part of the national system as soon as possible and paediatricians sharpen so that they can identify subtle signs of the disorder. A well-developed and high-quality system for diagnosing intellectual and developmental disabilities is the basis for a comprehensive child support plan and its maximum development. In the last couple of years, Unicef and the government have been piloting projects in several cities in Serbia related to the implementation of early intervention services and cross-sector cooperation (health, education and welfare), with particular emphasis on the early diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorders. These programs, well implemented, should be an example of good practice and be established in all municipalities in the country, with a tendency to be part of a national plan and funded by the budget of the republic.

• Education (Special Education and/or Integrated Education)

Schools for the education of students with disabilities are formed in relation to the type of disability and are arranged in large cities. Children with disabilities represent one of the most marginalized groups in Serbian society. Although Serbia has intensified efforts to promote inclusive education and early childhood development (including the early identification of developmental difficulties and disabilities) with efforts to reform the social welfare system, CwD remain one of Serbia’s most vulnerable groups of children; they are over-represented in residential care (around 80%), struggling with education inclusion and very often receiving insufficient support from the health system. Monitoring and developing tailor-made policies for CwD are hampered by a lack of data on their status and access to services. High stigma and discrimination associated with disability, indeterminate experience with social inclusion within the education system, and lack of inclusive activities in general provide very limited space for children with disabilities to engage and become full members of the society enjoying all the rights they are entitled to. The latest data collected in 2013 indicate that 65% of municipalities have at least one community based service for CwD. While this is a positive development, it is important to recognize that future efforts should be directed to increase inclusiveness of these services towards settings where children can develop in constant interaction with their peers. Relatively small percentage of CwD are engaged in the education system. Although there is no precise data, it is estimated that in 2014/2015 school year around 14,200 children with disabilities attended elementary and secondary education, which makes up 1.7% of students, with 6,708 in special schools for students with disabilities and about 7,500 in the regular school system. Although the school attendance rate in a segregated environment is 0.8% for primary schools and 0.9% for secondary schools, data indicate that half of children with disabilities are educated within a segregated environment. Apart from school setting, children with and without disabilities do not spend much time together in out-of-school activities. The possibility for them to learn more about diversity and tolerance through active socializing and playing should be offered to all children from an early age- before they enter pre-school.

The most important mechanism for improving the education of children with disabilities o Developing an individualization plan o Development of an individual educational plan with adapted way of working and conditions in which educational work is carried out o Developing an individualized education plan with customized content and ways of realizing teaching and learning programs and outcomes of educational work o Adjusting the number of students in the educational group

• Vocational training and Job Opportunity

People with disabilities, especially people with intellectual disabilities in our society, are in a very difficult position when it comes to access to the labor market and employment. Even after the Law on Professional Rehabitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities came into force, the problem of complete lack of opportunities the employment of these persons has not improved significantly. One of the biggest obstacles to creating opportunities is practice deprivation of legal capacity due to which persons completely lose the right to get a job. For them, in that case, the only option remains a work engagement that generally takes place in the inadequate conditions as isolated and unsupportive. However, the prejudices that they prevail about people with intellectual disabilities as incapable and useless to society, in fact are a major factor that makes it difficult at this time to remove all legal and social barriers to them employment.

• Support Organizations

➢ Commissioner for Protection of Equality ➢ Protector of Citizens- Ombudsman of Serbia ➢ National Organization of Persons with Disabilities of Serbia (NOOIS) is umbrella organization of 13 Serbia’s national disability organizations ➢ Union of Associations for Assistance to Persons with Intellectual Disabilities Serbia ➢ Union of Associations for Assistance to Persons with Intellectual Disabilities Serbia - - is umbrella organization of 53 Local organizations ➢ Union of Associations for Assistance to Persons with Intellectual Disabilities Vojvodina - is umbrella organization of 23 Local organizations ➢ Association for Assistance to Persons with Down syndrome – ➢ Association for Assistance to Persons with autism - is umbrella organization of 16 Local organizations ➢ Mental Disability Rights Initiative (MDRI-S)

6. Based on the information above, what are the issues to solve to conduct effective supports for persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities?

The analysis of the legislative framework indicates that the system of protection of children with disabilities is generally well conceived, but lacking sustainable financial resources to implement it. The consequence is that support, although prescribed by law, is effectively not available to all children, especially within education and social care systems. In order to improve the availability of support for children with disabilities, it is necessary to work on better coordination of currently available resources and their increase, which also requires the development of a methodology for monitoring investments in children with disabilities that do not currently exist. It is also particularly important to focus on increasing the availability of general services and services to children with disabilities, not to create specialized services and facilities that are intended for children with disabilities only. The situational analysis shows that children with disabilities and their families are exposed to different forms of discrimination and in this respect it is especially important: Work on reducing prejudices and stereotypes towards children with disabilities, through conducting public campaigns, but also educating employees in public administration and institutions. Particular attention should be paid to education when protecting children from discrimination, since children most often have contact with this system Work to increase reporting of discrimination to competent authorities and inform families and children with disabilities of disability protection measures