The ReForce project of the Belgrade Open School empowered civil society organizations and the public administration in a partnership approach in creating local policies by introducing a new service of the SCTM Advisory Center for Sustainable Cooperation of CSOs and Public Administration, and by developing an online platform for support of the process of local policy making and therefore development of the local community. The project lasted from November 2013 to January 2015.

The project improved the procedures for awarding grants to CSO and improved the transparency and responsibility of public administration in managing local funds through:

- establishing an effective framework for disposing of local funds intended for CSO;
- Launching and implementing local CSO initiatives in cooperation with public administration, in accordance with local needs;
- recommendations for improving the procedures for allocating funds to CSOs.

The overall objective of the project is to support the cooperation between civil society organizations and the public administration in order to create a systemic, sustainable and efficient partnership in the process of creating policies and decision-making at the local level.

The specific objectives of the project are:

• Develop an institutionalized, effective dialogue to strengthen the role of civil society organizations in the development of the local community;
• Improve procedures for fund allocation to civil society organizations in accordance with the needs and strategic priorities of local communities;
• To strengthen the role of civil society organizations in improving the transparency and responsibility of public administration in the efficient management of local funds envisaged for civil society organizations.

Project activities:

1. Development of a policy study;
2. Training for strengthening the capacities of associations and local government officials "Partnership between the public and civil sector in creating local development policies";
3. Creation of the "Local Development Support Package" web platform,
4. The public advocacy initiative "Support to the institutional dialogue between civil society and public administration", which refers to the following activities:

• Consultative dialogue;
• Public advocacy campaign in 5 local self-governments;
• A program of support to local associations through the allocation of the small grants to 5 local self-governments.

The project partner is the Standing Conference of Cities and Municipalities - the Association of Cities and Municipalities of Serbia. Associates on the project are the Agency for European Integration and Cooperation with the Associations of the City of Belgrade and the Regional Development Agency "Zlatibor".

The project was implemented with the support of the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia and the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society of the Government of the Republic of Serbia in the period from 28th of November 2013 to 28th of January 2015.