CONEX Balkan: Covid-19 Nexus response for improving the socio-economic situation of marginalized people in 6 Western Balkan countries



Contract partner: Arbeitsgemeinschaft - Conex Balkan Country: Europa, regional/länderübergreifend Funding amount: € 2.000.000,00 Project start: 01.05.2021 End: 30.04.2023

Short Description:

Overall goal


The overall objective is to contribute to the alleviation of the humanitarian and socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis in six West-Balkan countries. The specific objective is: Older persons, women, PwD and other marginalised people affected by the COVID 19 crisis have improved their resilience against crisis and their socio-economic situation


Expected results


Result 1: 14.619 older persons, women, Persons with Disabilities (PwD) and other marginalised people are able to meet their basic human needs and have improved access to health care and psycho-social support.

Result 2: 1.402 marginalised people (and especially long-term unemployed women, PwD etc) have improved their income situation and economic opportunities.

Result 3: Networks of local organisations (32 CSOs) are strengthened to better advocate needs and rights of older people, women, PwD and other marginalised groups affected by the pandemic.


Target group / Beneficiaries


13.662 persons will benefit from the planned intervention. 30.080 persons will be reached through awareness raising measures.

The Programme will be implemented in following locations: Albania (Durrës, Lezhë, Shkodër); Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bijeljina, Modri?a and Vukosavlje); Kosovo (Gjakova; Prishtina; Prizren); Montenegro (tbd after assessment & North all 12 northern municipalities, Central region (Podgorica and Nikši?), Southern region (Bar); North Macedonia: Bitola, Kumanovo, Skopje, Štip, Struga & nationwide (PSS)); Serbia (Pcinj district in South Serbia; Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Lucani in central and western Serbia).

 


Activities


The programme activities follow a humanitarian/nexus approach, combining immediate relief for the target groups with activities focused on medium-term sustainable development and on building resilience. The programme will implement the following activities:

Result 1 (emergency response): Provide cash and voucher assistance; provide in-kind assistance; provide Cash for Work; provide home care, psycho-social support (PSS) and organise referrals to (public) services; provide medical care services.

Result 2 (long-term response): Conduct home help / home care trainings; conduct soft skills trainings; facilitate vocational educational trainings and internships; conduct business development trainings incl. advisory support and mentoring; provide small grants and in-kind support for small businesses.

Result 3 (advocacy & knowledge sharing): build capacity and define agenda for advocacy; conduct advocacy consultations with authorities and general awareness raising activities; organise knowledge sharing events at regional Level.


Context


The COVID-19 crisis has disproportionately affected those groups that already faced social and economic exclusion and vulnerabilities before the crisis, namely older people, unemployed women and people with disabilities. The key problems the project will address are the lack of food, medication and other essential supplies, the deterioration of economic conditions, and the isolation and lack of access to social services.

project number 2867-05/2021
source of funding AKF
sector Humanitäre Hilfe: Sofortmaßnahmen
tied
modality Project-type interventions
marker Gender: 1, Poverty: 1, Inclusion: 1
  • Policy marker: are used to identify, assess and facilitate the monitoring of activities in support of policy objectives concerning gender equality, aid to environment, participatory development/good governance, trade development and reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health. Activities targeting the objectives of the Rio Conventions include the identification of biodiversity, climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, and desertification.
    • 1= policy is a significant objective of the activity
    • 2= policy is the principal objective of the activity
  • Donor/ source of funding: The ADA is not only implementing projects and programmes of the Austrian Development Cooperation , but also projects funded from other sources and donors such as
    • AKF - Foreign Disaster Fund of the Austrian federal government
    • BMLFUW - Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water
    • EU - Funds of the European Commission
    • Others - various other donors are listed in ADA’s annual business report.
  • Type of Aid – Aid modalities: classifies transfers from the donor to the first recipient of funds such as budget support, core contributions and pooled programmes and funds to CSOs and multilateral organisations, project-type interventions, experts and other technical assistance, scholarships and student costs in donor countries, debt relief, administrative costs and other in-donor expenditures.
  • Purpose/ sector code: classifies the specific area of the recipient’s economic or social structure, funded by a bilateral contribution.
  • Tied/Untied: Untied aid is defined as loans and grants whose proceeds are fully and freely available to finance procurement from all OECD countries and substantially all developing countries. Transactions are considered tied unless the donor has, at the time of the aid offer, clearly specified a range of countries eligible for procurement which meets the tests for “untied” aid.
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