The purpose of the project conducted in Kraljevo, Zrenjanin and Vranje was to develop different local self-government’s budget initiatives for allocation of resources towards stimulating women’s entrepreneurship leading to local economic development, through implementing gender responsible budgeting.

In addition to the representatives of the Women’s Parliamentary Network, Association of Businesswomen in Serbia, and the Canadian Ambassador to Serbia H.E. Philip Herbert Pinnington, the conference was also attended by representatives of local self-governments and associations of women entrepreneurs from Kraljevo, Zrenjanin and Vranje.

Sanja Popovic Pantic, President of the Association of Businesswomen in Serbia, thanked the participants for the successful completion of the project which mainly concerned public advocacy, emphasizing the importance of cooperation with the Women’s Parliamentary Network as the key institution in the process. She added that the project raised awareness on pursuing gender-responsive policies and promoting women’s entrepreneurship at the local level. The project aimed to conduct, in the abovementioned cities, one of three models of budget initiatives: launching gender statistics in recording of the local small/micro entrepreneurs, establishment of the Fund to support woman’s entrepreneurship and self-employment, and involvement of women entrepreneurs into the supply chain, which, after seminars, has started to yield good results.

In a short address, Ambassador Pinnington shared his pleasure at the project results, stressing that Canada, as a state striving to promote the rights of women and girls, empower them and provide them with equal political representation, would continue to support projects of this kind in Serbia, in the interest of both countries.

Marija Obradovic, coordinator of the Women’s Parliamentary Network, said that the process of empowering women in Serbia is a long-term one and the work of everyone involved so far has yielded visible results. She stressed that this projects is just one small step in the fight for the empowerment of women in Serbia and one extremely important for fostering ties among local women entrepreneurs and representatives of local institutions.

WPN member Aleksandra Tomic, who represented the WPN in Vranje, said that Serbia is one of few states which had managed to successfully implement gender-responsive budgeting last year, making 2016 the year of entrepreneurship. Tomic added that the amendments adopted when the 2017 budget was passed, securing support for women scientists in Serbia, keep the idea of gender-responsive budgeting alive.

Speaking of gender-responsive budgeting, Dubravka Filipovski, who represented the WPN at the conference in Zrenjanin, said that the support of all the state institutions in the process had proved greatly importance, especially that of the Ministry of Finance which has, since the onset of programme budgeting, launched training and implementation at the local level.

In the discussion, the participants listed the results of previous conferences in the abovementioned cities, with a special focus on networking among councilwomen and introduction of gender-responsive budgeting for 2017 in Zrenjanin, introduction of stimulation measures for self-employment through the Local Action Plan and the establishment of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs in Kraljevo, expected to happen in March, as well as the Fair of Women Entrepreneurs this year, and speaking of Vranje, the increased inclusion of women into local policies, endorsed by the local self-government.

Finally, the participants of the Conference concluded that though long, the process of empowering women entrepreneurs in Serbia has in a short time yielded significant results and projects of this kind, such as continuous educational training, are a good way to raise public awareness on gender equality.