On 4 December 2020 an introductory meeting was organised by the Red Cross of Serbia for the project “Strengthening resilience of older persons and persons with disabilities during COVID-19 and future disasters”. Started on 15 November with European Union and Austrian Development Agency support, this project will be focusing on supporting older persons and persons with disabilities in the COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 context over three years, in the Western Balkans region.

The 24 partners’ representatives coming from six project sites: Serbia. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Kosovo* were familiarised with the project timeline, priority implementation areas, reporting and visibility requirements with an agreement to organise a more complex kick-off meeting early in 2021 to discuss all these topics in detail. Agreement on the first batch of activities in each project site and preparations for signing individual Memoranda of Agreement were also part of the meeting. The project is a continuation of successful prior activities focusing on older persons in the region, with EU and ADA support, expanding to include persons with disabilities, with participation of European organisations advocating for older persons (AGE Platform Europe) and persons with disabilities (European Disability Forum).

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSC 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence