A meeting of the Network of Local Associates for Active Support to Returnee Families on the basis of the Readmission Agreement was held in the Ecumenical Humanitarian Organization on October 23 and 24, 2021. The network is active within the project "Support to the integration of returnee families" since October 2016 and consists of 25 local associates throughout Serbia who support the process of reintegration of vulnerable families through a number of measures and services:

• improving housing conditions;
• integration of children into the education system and ensuring continuing education;
• providing information and counseling, as well as support in issuing personal documents and in contacts with state institutions and services;
• measures of economic empowerment through self-employment;
• advising and supporting the use of legal migration opportunities;
• improving health care.

The meeting presented the results of the project so far, identified the biggest challenges in project implementation and discussed the improvement of services in the next project cycle and the identification of new returnee families. Also, the meeting was dedicated to planning new ideas related to strengthening the network and improving services for families affected by poverty.

For the project period 2020-2023, the Ecumenical Humanitarian Organization will support 133 families returned under the readmission agreement, ie 665 persons who returned from the Federal Republic of Germany in the period 2019-2023. years.

The project represents a relevant contribution to resolving the disadvantaged position of returnee families and improving new perspectives for a dignified life in Serbia.

The project is being implemented with the support of Diakonie Württemberg (DW), Gustav Adolf Werk (GAW) and Hoffnung für Osteuropa (HfO) from Germany.