Belgrade, June 17^th 2021 - Out of four new e-trainings that were developed within the project Civil Service Training for the 21^st Century, two were presented today to the members of the Network of Women Mayors and Heads of Municipalities in Serbia, with the aim to improve the quality of life of all citizens in local communities and support women heading local self-governments. These trainings are available to civil servants at the LMS online learning platform of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), and they were developed with the support of the Ministry of Public Administration and Local self-government (MPALSG), the Government of Sweden, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Serbia.

The signatories of the Women’s Solidarity Charter - 22 women heading towns and municipalities in Serbia - were the first to get acquainted with the new available trainings on the online learning platform, which will allow them to use these modern digital tools for professional development.

Women mayors and heads of municipalities in Serbia, as well as all other civil servants, can access the e-learning platform 24 hours a day, at any time, whenever it suits them. They will find more than 25 online trainings there, covering a broad range of subjects. 

These trainings will help them manage their local communities successfully, from improved planning and provision of public services, to better monitoring of achieved results.

“Civil Service Training for the 21^st Century is one of the most important projects that we’re currently implementing, because our aim is to provide our civil servants with the knowledge and skills they need to face the challenges of the times we’re living in,” said Dr Dejan Miletić, Acting Director of NAPA and host of today’s event. He added that this clearly indicated that the Academy was seriously stepping up its work, aiming to build a modernized public administration that will be at the service of the citizens and the society.

“Public administration modernization is one of the primary goals of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, and one of the most important priorities of the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-government. Local self-governments are the closest to the citizens: they are the first instance that the citizens address to solve their everyday issues. Therefore, professional development of local self-governments is a particularly important aspect of the reform process. The public administration that we want to build will be focused on the needs of the citizens and the economy, by providing efficient and increasingly digitalized public services. These trainings will also contribute to achieving our long-term goal of having more women in managerial positions in our towns and municipalities, as well as in other public administration bodies,” said Marija Obradović, Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-government.

Ola Andersson, Head of the Development Cooperation Department of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), said that Sweden has been providing support to partners in Serbia since 2001. So far, Sweden has donated 250 million EUR for reform projects in various areas, including public administration. “We are very pleased with the results achieved within the projects implemented by NAPA in partnership with UNDP. Along with the currently available trainings, we propose to include gender equality as a topic in the next cycle. Sweden will continue to support a modern, accountable and efficient public administration in Serbia,” said Andersson. 

“Thanks to the support of the Government of Sweden and the partnership with the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-government and NAPA, UNDP provides support to women heading towns and municipalities in Serbia, aiming to contribute to gender equality and a better public administration for all citizens. Women mayors and heads of municipalities have the opportunity to be role models and inspire more women to become leaders in the future, so that their voice is heard where decisions are made. To succeed in this endeavor, they need our support in perfecting their knowledge and skills. By modernizing the public administration, we also want to improve the public services for all citizens and companies, boost economic growth, eradicate corruption, reduce poverty and make sure that no one gets left behind,” said Francine Pickup, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program.

Four online trainings on NAPA’s platform, developed with the support of UNDP, are tailored for all civil servants in the Republic of Serbia. The trainings aim to boost efficiency and improve the quality of work of civil servants, which is why they also include employee motivation building as a topic.

Along with online trainings, the NAPA e-learning platform offers additional education options, such as the forum for exchange of information between trainees, consultations with trainers in virtual classrooms, and gamification that offers virtual competitions and progress points to motivate the trainees to keep learning.

Trainings for local self-governments were designed and uploaded on the e-learning platform as part of the project Civil Service Training for the 21^st Century funded by the Government of Sweden and implemented by UNDP.