“Thank you all!” – tweeted European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle after the Brussels Donor Conference for Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The conference, hosted by the European Commission and co-organised with France and Slovenia, was held to raise funds to support rehabilitation efforts in the wake of damage caused by recent flooding in the region. He thereby expressed his gratitude for the almost 1.85 billion euro pledged at the conference.

Representatives from civil society, the private sector and delegations from over 60 countries and 23 international organisations all gathered in Brussels under the motto”Rebuilding together”. The conference once again demonstrated the international solidarity and commitment to the region. Pledges amounted to 809.2 million euro for Bosnia and Herzegovina and 995.2 million euro for Serbia to meet the estimated requirements for 2014 of 650 million euro and 830 million euro respectively. A total of 41.4 million euro was pledged for cross-border interventions.

The assistance will be delivered through the European Union (EU) via existing structures in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia in close collaboration with the international donor community.

With an aim to assist local communities in restoring normal living conditions and ensure help reaches the most vulnerable, the European Union launched on 15 August the EU Floods Recovery Programme for Bosnia and Herzegovina worth EUR 43.52 million, out of which the EU’s contribution is EUR 42.24 million.

The programme will enable the reconstruction of 4,000 dwellings for approximately 14,000 people, specifically aims to rehabilitate 90 educational institutions (including pre-school facilities), three municipality buildings and four Centres for social welfare, four healthcare facilities, ten water and sanitation facilities and 100 local roads and bridges. In addition, the Programme aims to create or retain 2000 jobs through direct support to 700 farm-ers/agricultural households and 20 enterprises.

As a first priority, the Programme targets rehabilitation of 90 affected educational institu-tions, including refurbishment of basic equipment and teaching materials benefiting some 40,000 school-children. Rehabilitation works have already commenced in 52 priority educa-tional institutions country-wide.

Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to BiH, Dr Renzo Daviddi, said: “I am very glad that the much needed assistance is rolling out on the ground. The works on the reconstruction of schools have already started and we are working now and into September so that children can continue with their education as smoothly as possible.”

Out of the three municipality buildings that will be rehabilitated, works are ongoing in Sa-mac and Maglaj with Doboj to follow soon. As for the four healthcare centres, works have started in Domaljevac, Maglaj and Samac and will soon start in Doboj. The rehabilitation of Centre for social welfare is ongoing in Bijeljina while works in the other three centres are planned to be initiated soon (in Doboj, Maglaj and Samac). These activities are expected to benefit around 230,000 residents of affected communities.

The EU Flood Recovery Programme is aligned with the Recovery Needs Assessment, which was conducted by domestic authorities with assistance provided by the European Union, the United Nations and the World Bank.

The Programme is implemented through the United Nations Development Programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNDP) until October 2015.

In May 2014, severe weather and flooding hit entire regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Both countries suffered dozens of casualties, destruction of public and private infrastructure and damage to hundreds of thousands of households; people still remain without proper shelter with vulnerable groups most affected.

The total economic impact is estimated at 3.98 billion KM. Most affected are the private sector, households, SMEs, large businesses and agricultural producers, including an undefined number of vulnerable sectors of the population. For the Federation of BiH, the total effects (damage and losses) come to 2.03 billion KM, with 1.89 billion KM for Republika Srpska and 57.89 million KM for the Brcko District.

Updated information about the pledges made can be found in the database managed by the BiH Ministry of Finance and Treasury and available at the following website www.donormapping.ba.