Through our programme of direct support, we are focused on providing psychosocial, educational, and integrative support to migrants and asylum seekers accommodated in reception and asylum centres across our country. Above all, we strive to provide people with encouragement and support in coping with various difficulties they have brought with them and in embracing the new life circumstances they find themselves in. We help them in the process of adaptation, normalisation and active involvement in their daily lives by introducing them to the rights and obligations they have in Serbia, regarding their specific position and status, and by presenting the social and cultural context of the local environment. Another important segment of the programme of direct support relates to supporting the development of infrastructure capacities and local resources for the provision of social and communal services in municipalities and towns that receive migrants and asylum seekers. In addition, through financial and mentoring support to other organisations that also work with refugees and migrants, we seek to strengthen and expand the network of various forms of support for both migrants and refugees, as well as for representatives of local communities.
Our work is based on the rich experience of the programme that has evolved over the past twenty-five years since the organisation was founded. Although in the early years most of our activities were focused on direct humanitarian assistance to refugees and displaced persons from the former Yugoslavia, even then we started developing comprehensive support for integration into local communities. Over time, the activities of Group 484 in providing direct support have been given a strategic framework. We are increasingly starting to insist on the developmental character of our activities, with particular emphasis on certain segments of this programme, such as work on the development of social housing and support for employment and social entrepreneurship.
In recent years, the focus of our work has been on supporting migrants and asylum seekers, including strong support for the inclusion of children in local schools, but equally important for us is the support to local communities involved in the care of migrants and refugees. This has involved a variety of psychosocial, educational, recreational, and integrative activities, and the support for local communities primarily included projects for the renovation and equipping of kindergartens and schools, health centres and hospitals, and other major local institutions and facilities.
Over the last five years, projects from the programme of direct support have been implemented in Bogovađa, Belgrade, Preševo, Vranje, Šid, Dimitrovgrad, Subotica, Sombor, Sremska Mitrovica, Sjenica, Obrenovac, Bosilegrad, and in North Macedonia.
