Policy recommendation: Eradicating Poverty as Serbia’s Number One Strategy

March 2021 

Within the project „SDGs for ALL Platform“, Center for Democracy Foundation developed the policy recommendation „Eradicating Poverty as Serbia’s Number One Strategy“ which aims to contribute to the formulation of a new strategic approach to combatting poverty within the Republic of Serbia, one based on the standards set forth in the UN and EU Sustainable Development agendas. International standards that Serbia may utilize in this regard include poverty as a multidimensional phenomenon, eradicating poverty as an aim of public policy with a human rights-based approach. The situation in Serbia points to an urgent need to adopt a new strategic document dedicated to eradicating poverty, decades after the expiry of the implemented Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) and the disappointing effects of the Employment and Social Policy Reform Programme (ESRP). Half a million people continue to live in absolute poverty, unable to satisfy their basic needs. At the same time, a quarter of Serbia’s population lives at risk of poverty. Thus, there is an urgent need to evaluate PRS and ESRP implementation and to initiate the process of drafting a new strategic document under the auspices of the UN and to adopt said by the end of 2021, at the latest. (…)