Despite the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, GDSI continued to implement the Reform Action Plans of 33 local governments (LGs) and three line ministries, as originally planned in the as part of its Swiss-funded programme Local Government Finance Reforms II in Serbia (RELOF2), 2019-2023.

GDSI adopted several strategies to continue its work on the project during the pandemic including a COVID-19 risk mitigation management plan. The project’s success during this uncertain time is illustrated in the following results and milestones;The project also achieved success in its development of software for the Ministry of Economy. In collaboration with the City of Užice and the Swiss-funded Municipal Energy Efficiency and Management Project (MEEMP) in Serbia, RELOF 2 has developed and linked the city’s Energy Efficiency Programme with the new Planning System Law.

RELOF2 made further progress in the policy dialogue field. A new model was developed to improve the existing secondary legislation governing AI and resulted in the preparation of draft secondary legislation which is currently at the stage of public hearing. 

RELOF2’s five out of the six elaborated recommendations have been included in the draft secondary legislation. RELOF2 also continued piloting two new Public Financial Management (PFM) approaches with several initiatives. These include co-financing household Energy Efficiency projects and the development of a model to finance Energy Efficiency for households. The project also continues its work on the Development of a local planning system.