Belgrade, August 9, 2016 –The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced today a new, $1.3 million, twenty-month project to help Serbia respond to the continuing migrant crisis. The project, which will be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will help Serbian municipalities cope with the effects of the crisis.

The project, titled “Enhancing Local Resilience to the Migration Crisis,” will help communities affected by the crisis to improve infrasctructure and services related to the delivery of waste management, water supply, sewage and wastewater treatment.  It also will strengthen the delivery of local social and health services, which benefit both residents and migrants.

This is USAID’s second project to help Serbian communities cope with the crisis.  USAID granted $700,000 in March to the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation to implement the eighteen-month “Support for Local Response to Refugee Crisis” project. The Divac Foundation-led project is building the capacity of local governments and civil society organizations to respond to the crisis.