On the occasion of the completion of the delivery of household appliances, as additional housing assistance to vulnerable families, representatives of GIZ Serbia and EHO visited two families in Laćarak, Sremska Mitrovica on March 9, 2023. This year, EHO provided this additional assistance to improve housing conditions for a total of 49 families in Sremska Mitrovica, Ruma and Pećinci, as part of the project intended for returnees from Germany and other Western European countries “Assistance for a New Start” that partially supported non-returnees as well.

In 2021 these two families were provided with building materials necessary for house repairs, professional support from EHO engineers on the ground during construction works, as well as paid plumbing and ceramic works for the construction of a new bathroom. Other construction works were carried out by the families themselves.

Krsta Nikolić, a returnee from Germany, who lives on wages with his wife and 4 sons, says that he is very satisfied with everything he got. Now, in addition to the bathroom, they also got a new wood stove, instead of the old one that had already burned out, so the housewife will be able to bake bread there. Gordana Nikolić, who spent a year and a half in Germany, received material for a new roof because the old one was leaking. Now there are 8 of them in the house, because in addition to her husband and three minor children, her son, daughter-in-law and grandson also live with her. The young married couple with a baby were the most happy with the wood stove they received, because there was no stove in their room, and now they can heat and cook there nicely.

With this visit, GIZ representatives had the opportunity to see for themselves the better living conditions of the families achieved with this combined support, all with the aim of their easier (re)integration into the local community.

The services provided are supported, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, under the “Migration for Development” (PME) Programme.