To Donors

Personal assistance service (PA) and decision-making support are prerequisites and tools that enable a person with any form of impairment to perform any activity independently, make choices about everything concerning them, decide on all aspects of their life, have full control over it, and have the right to make mistakes. This right is unrelated to their impairment or the reduction/absence of certain abilities, but rather to the fact that any human being can make mistakes in these areas. These principles apply to independent living for every person.

The prerequisites for independence of persons with impairments or reduced/absent abilities, in addition to personal assistance and decision-making support, include accessibility (of the physical environment, information, services, and products for general use, as well as aids) and peer support.

The PA service allows the person using it full freedom (of living) and self-determination in all aspects of life.

It is guaranteed under Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as a potential right of every person, based on a prior assessment of their level of need, which considers all aspects of a person’s life.

In Serbia, the right to its financing is provided only through municipal/city funds or designated transfers to poorer municipalities.

To be eligible for public funding, a person must, according to the minimum national standards, be an adult, socially active, entitled to an increased allowance for care and assistance (indicating 100% disability on one or more grounds), and capable of making independent decisions.
Most people with impairments or reduced/absent abilities do not meet one of these criteria and therefore are not eligible for public funding of PA services.

The right to PA service funding is defined in Article 45 of the Law on Social Protection, adopted in 2011.
Since then, 30 municipalities and cities have mainstreamed this service into their social protection policies, funding it for less than 470 people.

The process of introducing PA services into municipal/city social protection policies takes years; in Novi Sad, it took 10 years.

During this time, the Centre performed the City’s role by providing funding to ensure the service was available to the necessary extent and with sufficient continuity, as three people could not function without it.
The minimum national standard for funding is 20–40 hours of service per week.
Most people in Novi Sad who require assistance need 60 to 168 hours of support per week, which the City of Novi Sad began funding in June 2021.
It still does not fully fund the service for persons requiring assistance from two people for each lifting and other physically demanding activities.
Since January 2020, when the City of Novi Sad began co-funding the service with designated municipal funds, it has not funded any other labour rights for assistants, except for net pay per hour worked, with corresponding benefits.
From 2017 to 2024, the Centre provided the necessary level of assistance through donations to six persons who, according to the minimum national or local self-government standards, are not eligible for public funding of PA services but require it.

Everything that cities and municipalities did not fund, the Centre covered through donations, ensuring that people did not have to wait for the realisation of their right to a service as vital as the right to oxygen. Most people who need it cannot get out of bed or perform any daily activities without it.

Because the announced funds were delayed or not transferred, and because the amount the City approved for subsidies was known in March of the current year, the Centre began facing account blockages in 2014. Part of its accounts have been continuously blocked since February 2017.

Part of the approved grant for indirect costs in 2023 and allocated city funds for direct PA service costs in 2024 weren’t transferred since they are also subject to a current blockade, for which the Centre has to raise the amount of EUR 44,674.58, and EUR 360.08 for the monthly fee of the maintaining bank accounts under blockade from May 2023 to January 2026.

As the City did not respond to any of the requests or proposals (96 letters were sent between April 12 and November 27, 2024) to find funds jointly for unblocking or to appeal to the Serbian Government for the release of designated funds for assistance execution in light of the reasons for the blockage, donations are the only way to resolve this debt. Resolving it would enable the Centre to provide unhindered support to independent living to all who approach it.

After the Treasury Administration’s announcement and confirmation on January 15, 2024, that designated funds for the work of personal assistants would not be transferred to the Centre due to the blockage, sixteen users, for whom the Centre organised PA services from 2020 to 2023, chose one of the two other licensed providers who licensed the service in 2019 and 2024, respectively.

Two young people, for whom the Centre organized  PA service until the license expired on March 16, do not have the right to its financing, nor can they go anywhere else to have the service organized for them, which they need. For one of them, we are continuing to provide peer support, study assistance, and mobility assistance so they can leave their houses without being dependent on their mothers 24/7.  For this reason and due to the continuation of the advocacy work to change the state minimum standards for the provision of this service, the revision of which began this year, it is important to cover this debt by including everyone who can donate ASAP, because it affects the realization of the social rights of former and current Centre’s employees and prevents it from securing funds from other sources, except donations in the community.

The prerequisite for Centtre to be able to organize assistance for us again is to unblock the account, because until then it cannot apply for funds for the indirect costs of the service, and the period for which the licensed provider must have leased office space is disputed.

The additional challenge is that a state license for a social service provision is issued for 6 years, and in municipal/city decisions on leasing space in public ownership, office space can be leased for 2-3 years under preferential conditions, with the possibility of extending the contract. We approached the relevant ministry with a proposal for a solution to this circumstance, which is an obstacle to licensing, first of all, licensed entities from the non-profit sector, and if the money for all items is provided.

The amount of EUR 58,550.84 was donated through the general donation campaign SUPPORT WORK OF THE CENTRE LIVING UPRIGHT, launched on December 6th, 2023, by 1240  donors.

The accompanying images are part of the product designs in the CLUshop Shop | Redbubble (and Kutak za podršku Centru Živeti uspravno), created on December 2 by Uncut Creations, to help cover the costs that cities and municipalities, where the Centre organises support for independent living, do not cover.
By making an urgent donation to account 340-5350-79, you directly help clear the blockage.

By donating to the designated donation account 340-11001286-31, which is not subject to blockage, you contribute to covering the 2024 deficit the amount of EUR 14,752.22 since the allocated city funds for the work of seven assistants in January and one from February to December by December 31, 2024 could not be transferred to the Centre because they are also the subject of the account blockage. It was reduced to EUR 10,298.69 thanks to this year’s donations.

We thank you in advance for your support!