The project ‘Speak European – Professional Development for Accession’ represents a new EU Delegation in Serbia and Serbian Office for EU integrations (as the local partner) initiative for strengthening professional development across key institutions of public administration and civil sector/ Academia, thereby increasing the momentum of the accession process of Serbia into the structures of the European Union.

It offers a combination of practical training courses and work-based experience in countries of the European Union, for more than 200 people, over the next two years. The training and development activities are aimed at civil and public servants at all levels of Government, and at professionals who can help to enhance the level of public awareness about the benefits and obligations of EU membership.

Project implementation is led by the British Council in a consortium with the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA), Maastricht, and the College of Europe (CoE), Bruges, in collaboration with the Communications and Training Section of the European Integration Office of the Serbian Government.

The project, formally entitled ‘European Integration Scholarship’ is funded by the European Union (in the amount of 2,5M Euro), commenced work on the 1 February 2010, and is expected to complete its work early in 2012.

The principal aims of the project are:

			to facilitate the process of accession, by strengthening the necessary expertise and awareness of civil and public servants at central and local levels of administration, in the fields directly relevant to the legal, procedural, financial and technical aspects of European integration.
			to stimulate better understanding of the European Union through training courses targeted at professionals whose work is concerned with awareness-raising, education and public opinion throughout Serbia. This group is collectively referred to as the “Community Multipliers” in recognition of their potential role in disseminating information on the nature, values and benefits of EU membership more widely across the general population

If you need further information about this programme, please visit the project’s official website or contact Mirjana Nikolić in our office in Belgrade.