In Belgrade on May 6, 2022, the introductory conference on the project “New partnerships and opportunities for innovative and sustainable approaches to the social integration of vulnerable groups in the labor market (NoVA)” was held. Opening remarks at the conference were given by prof. Dr. Darija Kisić, Minister of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, Martin Klaucke, Head of Operations II, Delegation of the European Union in R. Serbia, Zoran Martinović, Director of the National Employment Service and Ljubomir Miladinović, Secretary General of the Red Cross of Serbia. After the opening remarks, a panel discussion was held on the topic of activation of financial social assistance beneficiaries, where Katalin Eszter Somody and Katalin Szatmari from the European Commission, Martina Trbanc from the Institute for Social Protection of Slovenia, Žarko Šunderić from the Center for Social Policy, Neda Milanović from the National Service for employment as well as Srđan Bogosavljević from Ipsos.

The common conclusion of the speakers was that thanks to the European Union, which recognized our idea and decided to finance this project, we have the opportunity to do a lot in the field of improving the living conditions of the most vulnerable members of our society, especially in terms of their integration into the labor market. The consortium has a great responsibility, but the speakers agreed that the project is a chance to collect data that will be of great importance for the creation of future policies in the field of social protection both at the national and European level.