Foundation stone for the construction of the building of collective non-profit social housing was formally laid in Bosanski Petrovac today, to provide permanent housing solution for the six most vulnerable displaced families in that municipality. This symbolic act marked the beginning of 120-day long construction works.
The construction of the building of collective non-profit social housing is a part of the EUR 8.1 million-worth project Support to durable solutions of Revised Annex VII Dayton Peace Agreement Implementation Strategy, funded by the European Union in the amount of EUR seven million and co-funded and implemented by UNHCR. Over the period from 2014 to 2016, the project will help minimum of 2,400 vulnerable IDPs and women-victims of war in their efforts to find solutions to social and economic challenges they face in the municipalities of Bijeljina, Bosanski Petrovac, Doboj, Foča, Gradiška, Maglaj, Mostar, Prijedor, Živinice and Brčko District.
“Social housing apartments that will be built here, in Bosanski Petrovac, will bring long-awaited sustainable solutions for the six most vulnerable families of displaced people, who have been surviving for many years in unacceptable conditions with limited access to social services and employment”, said on this occasion Andrew Mayne, UNHCR Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, adding that UNHCR and its project partners look forward to continuing cooperation, in the next two years, with the municipal authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina which will “identify remaining needs of the most vulnerable returnees and IDPs, take care of them and include them in their development plans”.
The municipality of Bosanski Petrovac has secured KM 15,000 for the co-financing of this project, as well as the land, building permit, revised project documentation and complete landscaping of the building. “We are pleased that the municipality of Bosanski Petrovac has been recognized as the municipality of strategic importance for the implementation of the Revised Strategy for the Implementation of Annex VII of the Dayton Peace Agreement and for the provision of permanent housing solution to people who 20 years after the war still live in unacceptable conditions”, stressed Zlatko Hujić, head of the Bosanski Petrovac municipality, and announced that the municipal authorities would “continue to provide support over the forthcoming period, when it comes to creating sustainable solutions for IDPs and returnees”.
Suzana Jašarević, director of the Hilfswerk Austria International (HWA) organisation in BiH, whose task within the project is to implement the housing component, restore infrastructure and to create economic sustainability for vulnerable families of returnees and IDPs, announced during the ceremony of laying of the foundation stone that HWA would build or reconstruct a total of 105 housing units for vulnerable families of IDPs and returnees, over the period of three years, in the ten stated project municipalities. HWA will also ensure economic sustainability of the project beneficiaries by providing support to small/medium enterprises in creating at least 10 new jobs, by providing assistance to farmers in generating income and by ensuring 231 grants for economic empowerment of socially vulnerable families of IDPs and returnees.
Within the project “Support to durable solutions of Revised Annex VII Dayton Peace Agreement Implementation Strategy”, the project partners – United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), International Organization for Migration (IOM), Hilfswerk Austria International (HWA), Bosnian Humanitarian Logistics Service (BHLS), Foundation of Local Democracy (FLD) and Vaša Prava BiH (VP) – will identify, in cooperation with local authorities, the needs of IDPs and returnees to strengthen their social protection and inclusion, enable health care for the elderly and education for children, provide free legal aid, psycho-social counseling and housing conditions.
For more information, please contact:
Gordana Stojnic, Assistant Programme Officer, UNHCR, stojnic@unhcr.org, tel: + 387 33 290 330
Lejla Kapetanovic Rodrigues; PR Manager, Via Media, lejlak@viamedia.ba, tel: + 387 63 690 242
