Being aware of the fact that education is the main pillar of each country’s development and that young people are our future, NIS is launching a competition under the “Together for the Community” programme for 2023, which focuses on supporting the development of science and education in partner cities and municipalities throughout our country.
Bearing in mind the efforts of the state to improve the conditions for education that encourage the stay of young people in Serbia, as well as the adopted Strategy for the Development of Education in Serbia by 2030, NIS will invest RSD 144.5 million this year in improving the teaching process and infrastructure of primary and secondary school facilities. Part of the funds will also be directed to the improvement of research and innovation capacities and infrastructure of scientific and research organizations and science and technology parks in cities and municipalities covered by the programme, which is one of the national priorities. It is also the largest annual amount of funds that NIS will allocate to support local communities within the “Together for the Community” programme since its establishment in 2009. In this way, NIS wishes to mark the 15th anniversary of this largest corporate social responsibility programme in our country.
This year’s programme cycle is implemented by NIS in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science, Technological Development, and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia, and when choosing the area to support this year, NIS was also guided by the results of the survey on the situation and needs in educational institutions in 13 local self-governments – programme participants.
The programme covers the cities and municipalities throughout our country where NIS performs the majority of its business activities: Belgrade, Novi Sad, Požarevac, Niš, Čačak, Zrenjanin, Pančevo, Kikinda, Kanjiža, Novi Bečej, Srbobran, Žitište, and Veliko Gradište.
Applications for this year’s competition start on 15 June and last until 8 September 2023 until 4 p.m., and all conditions and propositions of the competition are published on the website of NIS, at the link: https://www.nis.rs/zajednici-zajedno/. The projects that will receive support for implementation will be decided by the Project Selection Commission, and the results of the competition will be announced in the second half of October of the current year.
“This year marks a decade and a half of our programme that we are particularly proud of – the ‘Together for the Community’ programme. In the past 15 years, in cooperation with partner cities and municipalities, we have been able to improve areas of key importance for their development, but also for the development of society in general. Quite specifically, from 2009 until today, more than 1,000 projects with a total value of almost RSD 1.6 billion have been implemented within this programme. We are proud to continuously contribute to the development of municipalities and cities in Serbia, and investing in the community in which we operate is also our strategic commitment to which we remain consistent,” said Mr Vadim Smirnov, Deputy CEO of NIS.
NIS has been implementing the social responsibility programme – “Together for the Community” in cooperation with partner cities and municipalities throughout Serbia since 2009. The programme aims to improve the quality of life of citizens in Serbia through the implementation of projects in the fields of science and education, public health and social protection, environmental protection, culture, and sports. Over the past 15 years, thanks to the “Together for the Community” programme, the work of more than 180 educational institutions and more than 40 cultural institutions has been improved, 45 hospitals and health centres have been equipped, and 74 children’s playgrounds and parks, as well as 72 sports fields and facilities, have been redecorated. The key objective of the programme is the empowerment and development of partner cities and municipalities in which NIS operates, with a special focus on supporting children and young people, which is also in line with NIS slogan – “Future at Work”.
