USAID Celebrates 20 years of Cooperation and Partnership with Serbia

Belgrade, October 28, 2021 - This year, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is celebrating twenty years of partnership with Serbia. Since 2001, USAID has invested $882 million to support Serbia’s economic and democratic development, as part of an overall $1.2 billion in U.S. Government assistance.

In partnership with Serbia’s Government, the private sector and civil society, USAID has implemented thousands of activities throughout Serbia to improve lives, create jobs and to support the country’s European Union integration aspirations.  

Current USAID programs are helping to make Serbia's economy more competitive; strengthen the rule of law; increase government ability to serve citizens; support free media and civil society; and combat corruption. USAID has also provided more than $9 million helping Serbia in the fight against COVID. This assistance ranged from providing ambulances, medical equipment and testing containers for hospitals to working with the Serbian Red Cross to help vulnerable families get through this crisis.

"USAID is proudly marking this important jubilee as an opportunity to celebrate twenty years of partnership between the American and Serbian people. We are very much excited over the progress that has marked the previous two decades, and we’re proud of the support we provided to drive reforms at all levels. In partnership with the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the private sector and civil society organizations, USAID has implemented thousands of projects in all parts of Serbia to help people make positive changes, put their ideas into action, create new jobs and contribute to the development of the local communities in which they live. During the last two decades, USAID has forged strong partnerships to help drive the reforms needed for Serbia to become a key contributor to economic growth and stability in the Balkans. We’ll continue creating together,” said Ms. Susan Fritz, USAID Mission Director in Serbia.

Key results of USAID’s assistance since 2001, include:

• Completing 5,000 activities with local communities between 2001 and 2007. The projects, which were selected by community members, ranged from schools and roads to youth centers and a bridge.
• Helping to establish the National Alliance for Local Economic Development (NALED) to bring businesses together with relevant government institutions to improve the business enabling environment
• Ensuring through Opportunity Bank that micro- and small- businesses agricultural businesses had access to financing. Over EUR 785 million in loans helped create 56,000 new jobs and sustain 280,000 jobs. Support to help agribusinesses to enter and succeed on new export markets has resulted in the sale of over $120 million in Serbian food products abroad.
• Helping 83 municipalities to introduce e-governance solutions and establishing 32 Citizen Assistance Centers.
• Working with Serbia’s Courts to reduce backlogs by up to 50% and to increase transparency and efficiency in the way they function.
• Supporting more than 500 local civil society organizations (CSOs) to make positive changes in their communities.
• Working with more than 250 media outlets to increase professionalism and to strengthen their financial sustainability.