Eleven families from Prijedor, including two families of displaced persons and nine returnee families, received yesterday and today keys to housing units, with complete infrastructure. In addition, five of these families received agricultural machinery. The handover of the housing units was attended by the representatives of the EU’s Regional Office in Banja Luka, UNHCR Field Unit in Banja Luka, City of Prijedor and Hilfswerk Austria International.

The housing units were (re)constructed as part of the EUR 8.1 million project „Support to durable solutions of the Revised strategy for implementation of Annex VII of the Dayton Peace Agreement“, which is funded by the European Union (in the amount of EUR 7 million through IPA 2012), co-funded (with EUR 1.1 million) and implemented by UNHCR in cooperation with seven project partners in ten priority municipalities.

“This is a very important day for these families and for all of us as well. Prijedor is the city with the largest number of returnees, displaced persons and refugees in BiH, and because of that I want to thank the EU and the UNHCR as investors of the project and Hilfswerk Austria International as implementor of these activities“, said Marko Pavić, Mayor of Prijedor.

„With this donation of agricultural machinery to five families, we will also support and empower them economically, in order to improve and facilitate their integration and reintegration into the social currents. I take this opportunity to thank the City of Prijedor for support and provision of urbanistic and building permits for newly constructed buildings”, said Azema Avdusinović, Project Manager of the partner organisation Hilfswerk Austria International in BiH.

The project will have (re)constructed over 100 housing units for the most vulnerable internally displaced people and returnees throughout the country, by the end of 2016. So far, the project has (re)constructed 82 houses and one residential building with six housing units to very vulnerable returnee and internally displaced  families in the municipalities of Gradiška, Prijedor, Bosanski Petrovac, Foča, Brčko District, as well as in the City of Bijeljina.

The purpose of the project „Support to durable solutions of the Revised strategy for implementation of Annex VII of the Dayton Peace Agreement“ is to assist at least 2.400 vulnerable displaced persons and returnees in BiH, including women victims of war, in finding solutions to social challenges that they are facing every day, through close cooperation between local authorities, local community, civil society and project partners, together with the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In cooperation with the local authorities, the project partners are indentifying the needs of displaced persons and returnees  with the aim of strengthening their social protection and inclusion, provision of health protection for the elderly, education, provision of free legal aid, pshycho-social counselling and housing. The project started in 2014 and will be implemented until 2016 in municipalities of Bosanski Petrovac, Gradiška, Prijedor, Derventa, Maglaj, Bijeljina, Živinice, Mostar, Foča, and Brčko District.

Project is implemented in cooperation with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), International Organisation for Migrations (IOM), Hilfswerk Austria International (HWA), Bosnian Humanitarian Logistic Service (BHLS), Foundation of Local Democracy (FLD), and Vaša prava BiH Association.