The Global Objectives of the programme are to bring together the people, communities and economies of the eligible area to jointly participate in the development of a cooperative area, using its human, natural, cultural and economic resources and advantages with the overall objective to stimulate the economies, to foster sustainable development and reduce the relative isolation of the eligible area by strengthening joint institutional networks and the capacities of human resources.

This Call for Proposal refers to the following Priority identified in the programme as follows:

Priority I - Social and economic cohesion through joint actions to improve physical business, social and institutional infrastructure and capacity.

Priority I is subdivided into two Measures as follows:

Measure I.1 Improving the productivity and competitiveness of the area’s economic, rural and environmental resources.

This measure will stimulate regular day-by-day interaction between the local population in programme area in order to develop common interests. It will also stimulate contacts between businesses located across the cross-border region via: business-to-business networks; development of SME support services and joint access to these; joint marketing & promotion on domestic & EU markets; enhancement of innovativeness by cooperation of SMEs with educational and R&D organizations; exchange of know-how; selected investments in business infrastructure including the establishment of cross-border clusters. It will stimulate economic development by supporting the development & improvement of tourism products & services; integration of cultural heritage & environment into tourism products; and the joint marketing of these products. It will provide for increasing the knowledge of people working in tourism and culture & agriculture and the use of ICT tools for developing and marketing products and training people.

This measure will also support awareness raising activities on environmental issues and joint actions to ensure that sites of high environmental and landscape value are managed so that they can sustain the pressures of tourism development without losing their value. In addition, the measure will support the development of more effective systems and approaches to emergency preparedness in relation to flood prevention and control; cross-border pollution, food safety and health issues. The measure will also support the development of joint waste management and minimization strategies. A selected number of actions will be supported which result in the clean-up and restoration of polluted /damaged sites.

In addition to the above, emphasis will also be placed on cross border social cohesion including joint educational, cultural, health promotion and awareness activities and by addressing social exclusion and common social problems.

Types of action/activity

The following list of possible types of action is indicative only and is not exhaustive. Appropriate innovative activities that are not mentioned below may also be considered for support.

Economic Activities

• Support to joint innovative actions aimed at introducing new tourist practices;
• Establish networks and associations for the purpose of achieving a coordinated development of joint entrepreneurial activity
• Know-how transfer for improving knowledge and skills of people in entrepreneurship, new technologies, marketing, promotion;
• Joint activities for development of basic infrastructures for protection of historical, cultural, artistic, and linguistic heritage in the cross-border area;
• Marketing and joint activities to enhance typical products in the cross-border area;
• Development of activities designed to support cooperation between SMEs, education and research & development organizations for improving business innovativeness and technology
• Joint vocational /adult training projects addressing market demands and sectoral skills shortfalls.
• Research studies to identify market gaps, market opportunities, high value products and dissemination of results across the border region
• Joint initiatives for establishing cross-border clusters (e.g. multi-media, tourisms, ICT, food processing, electronics, biotechnology)
• Stimulate use of ICT in manufacturing, for tourism information and for the marketing & management of SMEs.
• Support to (re-)building or up-grading of small-scale tourism infrastructure (walking paths, cycle routes, equipping visitor centre, information points, networking tourism centres)

Environmental Activities

• Support to integrated protection and management of sensitive ecosystems and proper use of surface waters;
• Support development of integrated environmental monitoring systems and data bases;
• Actions designed to reduce the negative effects on environment and encourage environmentally-friendly economic activities;
• Support improvements of the waste water and solid waste disposal systems, aimed at protecting the area from on-going pollution.
• Actions designed to prevent and manage natural disasters and man-made environmental hazards
• Cross-border cooperation between bodies and organizations involved in environmental protection and management of protected sites
• Actions designed to deal jointly with pollution;
• Cooperation on matters pertaining to the provision of information and awareness raising of the population about the importance, protection and promotion of the environment and natural heritage.
• Preparation of feasibility studies and other technical documentation for large-scale infrastructure interventions, to be financed by sources other than this programme
• Biological and biodiversity studies;
• Environmental education programs etc
• Architecture and urban planning studies;

Social Cohesion

• Actions to improve the flow of information and communication between border regions;
• Support for the fight against social exclusion including bilateral actions for the joint solution of common social problems.
• Support of joint programmes based on utilization of multiethnic assets;
• Education and training initiatives including training /re-training of unemployed and adult education / “ training for life” programmes across the border;
• Support of joint health protection and related activities and building sustainable health protection awareness system in particular for vulnerable and Roma groups
• Support introduction of EU practices and models for promoting health in schools

Measure I.2. Cross-border initiatives targeting the exchange of people and ideas to enhance the professional and civic society cooperation.

This measure will help reduce the marginalization implications and promote continuing cooperation to achieve greater economic strength in the eligible areas. This measure will encourage activities that promote contacts, communication and cooperation between local communities and local community organizations/agencies within the cross-border region, particularly in support of women and marginalized groups (unemployed, youth and disabled), local democracy and the development of civil society.

This measure is designed to bring about a more intense cooperation between local population in both countries as a natural part of every-day life, in order to develop a common identity between both the inhabitants and professional groups. Such activities might include the following:
• Smaller projects and people-to-people actions.
• Cooperation between local professional groups, looking for problem solving assistance at a local level, will help improve the productivity and competitiveness of local businesses.
• Cooperation between tourist support structures to produce brochures, information, data bases etc. will generate additional business and improve the overall standard of services available.
• The establishment and promotion of historic cultural or sporting events between border communities will focus attention on people-to-people cooperation to maintain and celebrate the traditions and customs of the programme area.

Types of action/activity

The following list of possible types of action is indicative only and is not exhaustive. Appropriate innovative activities that are not mentioned below may also be considered for support.

• Joint promotion of the region's common cultural heritage including the organization of cultural and sporting events;
• Festivals of culture, music, celebration of local history or natural attractions.
• Co-operative scientific and cultural research projects;
• Exhibitions on local or regional themes;
• Educational exchange programmes, including arranging seminars of joint interest to schools and universities;
• Focused education / training programmes for specific needs.
• Organization of local exhibitions or fairs;
• Youth exchange activities from both sides of the borders
• Planning of joint events between neighbouring communities;
• Establishing communication networks between communities;
• Meeting specific training needs for minorities or handicapped persons;
• Joint institution-building projects (training, re-training, developing partnerships, exchange etc.);
• Feasibility studies or project preparation activities for larger projects with a strong cross border impact could be financed under this measure

An applicant may submit more than 1 proposal under this call for proposals.

An applicant may not be awarded more than one grant under this call for proposals.
However an applicant may at the same time be a partner in one or more other applications.

Partners may take part in more than one application.

Location
Actions must have as final beneficiaries the population of the programme area, as defined in the following, and their activities must mainly take place in this area as well.
Serbia: Including all the municipalities of the following counties: Sremski, Mačvanski, Zlatiborski and Kolubarski.
The following are the Serbian municipalities which are eligible: Sremski county: Sremska Mitrovica, Šid, Inđija, Irig, Ruma, Stara Pazova, Pećinci; Mačvanski county: Šabac, Bogatić, Loznica, Vladimirci, Koceljevo, Mali Zvornik, Krupanj, Ljubovija; Zlatiborski county: Bajina Bašta, Kosjerić, Užice, Požega, Čajetina, Arilje, Priboj, Nova Varoš, Prijepolje, Sjenica; Kolubarski county: Valjevo, Osečina, Ub, Lajkovac, Mionica, Ljig) and

Bosnia and Herzegovina: The following municipalities of Sarajevo Region and North-East Region are eligible : Brčko District, Gradačac, Doboj Istok, Gračanica, Srebrenik, Čelić, Lopare, Ugljevik, Donji Žabar, Domaljevac-Šamac, Modriča, Odžak, Kalesija-Osmaci, Banovići, Bijeljina, Bosanski Brod, Bratunac, Han Pijesak, Kalesija, Kladanj, Lukavac, Milići, Orašje, Pelagićevo, Petrovo, Sapna, Srebrenica, Šamac, Šekovići, Teočak, Tuzla, Vlasenica, Vukosavlje, Zvornik, Živinice, Trnovo RS, Istočna Ilidža, Istočno Novo Sarajevo, Vogošća, Istočni Stari Grad , Vareš, Visoko, Fojnica, Višegrad, Rogatica, Sokolac, Pale, Pale Prača, Novo Goražde, Rudo, Čajniče, Goražde, Foča Ustikolina, Foča, Kalinovik, Trnovo, Hadžici, Ilidža, Novi Grad Sarajevo, Stari Grad Sarajevo, Ilijaš, Breza, Kiseljak, Kreševo, Olovo, Sarajevo Centar, Novo Sarajevo.

Please check carefully the respective documents:

Application Pack IPA 2007&2008 CBC Serbia-Bosnia and Herzegovina

Local Publication Notice

The application form with entire application pack is available on:
• the web site of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Serbia (http://www.evropa.gov.rs)
• on the Web Site of the Directorate for European Integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina (http://www.dei.gov.ba)
• on the EuropeAid website (http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/funding/index_en.htm)

Further information:

jtscbcsrbbih@mfin.gov.rs

Fax: +381 31 512 394