About the Europe Regional Centre

Center for Society Orientation (COD) Logo

The Europe Regional Office is located in Belgrade, Serbia, hosted by its regional partner, the Centre for Society Orientation (Centar za orijentaciju drustva) (COD). The mandate of the COD is to work on and promote capacity building of local actors in the Republic of Serbia and Southeast Europe during a transition period were all vulnerable groups could enjoy their Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Freedoms. There are DRPI projects in the following countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Portugal, Serbia, and Sweden.

Serbian Society of Autism Logo

The Serbian Society of Autism is also a partner of the Europe regional office. Created in 1977, its mission is to continuously work on improvement of systematic solutions for improvement of life and reaching of human rights of persons living with autism. Association members are persons living with autism, parents, professionals and all people with good will that are interested in the problematic of autism. Serbian Society of Autism has its umbrella of associations in 10 cities in Serbia as following: Belgrade, Novi Sad, Pančevo, Kruševac, Čačak, Jagodina, Kragujevac, Užice, Šabac and Niš.

Training of regional monitors took place in Kanjiža, Serbia from April 26th to May 4th, 2011. A list of disabled peoples organizations (DPOs) that participated in the Europe regional training is included toward the end of this page.

Currently the Europe Regional Office is focusing on completing the regional country monitoring projects.

Meet the Regional Officer: Radoš Keravica

Radoš Keravica

Radoš Keravica is a person with a disability who studied economics at the University of Novi Sad, Faculty of economics, Department for European Economics and Business where he was awarded a BSc degree in 2009. At the moment, he is just completing an MSc degree course within the same department. During his studies, his research related to functioning of institutions of the European Union (EU), common EU policies, process of EU integration as well as political and economic aspects of the EU.

Since 2006, Mr. Keravica has been actively involved in the NGO sector as a member and volunteer of the South Backa district association of dystrophy. As a volunteer in this organization, he worked on projects related to employment, transport, overcoming of prejudices, and stimulation of scientific and medical research. In 2008, he became a member of the Supervising Board in this organization tasked to control organization functioning, its finances, and to create financial reports.

In 2007, Mr. Keravica began volunteering in the Center for Youth and Social Development RES POLIS, a youth organization which deals with youth policy and problems in general. After 3 years of volunteer work on projects tackling issues such as: non-formal education, promotion of youth achievements, active participation of youth in society and youth employment and entrepreneurship, he became Main Board President of CYSD RES POLIS in 2010. Mr. Keravica also worked on the preparation of the Local Action Plan for Youth of Novi Sad in the area of youth employment.

During his engagement in the NGO sector, he was also trained in strategic planning, voluntary management, writing projects proposals, running the project’s cycle, public representing, as well as lobbying and fundraising at various institutions in Serbia and abroad.

Contact Information

Phone: +381112120177 / +381646498117
Email: rados.keravica@cod.rs, eerc.drpi@cod.rs

Europe Regional Training in Kanjiža, Serbia

Participants

Serbia

• Čovekoljublje
• NOOIS
• Volja za životom
• BG Centar
• Udruženje MS N.Kneževac
• Udruženje "S tobom za njih"
• Gradska organizacija gluvih Beograda

Montenegro

• Udruženje Plegije – Nikšić
• Udruženje mladih sa hendikepom- Kotor
• Udruženje za pomoć hendikepiranim licima- Bijelo Polje

Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Udruženje studenata sa posebnim potrebama i volontera
• OAZA

Macedonia

• Open the windows
• POLIO +
• Nacionalni savez slepih R.Macedonia

Croatia

• Udruga za promicanje ljudskih prava
• Hrvatski savez slijepih
• Udruga distrofičara, invalida CP i DP i ostalih telesnih invalida

Hungary

• Cocus

Observers

• Ann Marit Saebonnes, Assistant to the UN Special Rapporteur on Disability
• Ljiljana Igric, Graduate Program in Critical Disability Studies, University of Zagreb
• Fredrik Stockhaus, SHIA, Sweden
• Sonja Vasic, Handicap International, Palestine

Speakers at Opening Ceremony (in addition to  speakers from the above organizations)

• Nyilas Mihaly, Mayor of Kanjiza
• Nevena Petrušić, Commissioner for Equal Opportunities
• Vesna Petrović, Executive Director of Belgrade Center for Human Rights
• Marija Rauš (Special Advisor on Human Rights)
• Marcia Rioux (DRPI Co-Director)