Serbia

International Women's Day: A Serbian Perspective

By Mirjana Popovic and Vesna Kostic

Mar. 8: Working Women’s Day or Jobless Women’s Day in Serbia?

By Mirjana Popovic, Online Communications Producer

In the former Yugoslavia, where I was born, International Women’s Day used to celebrate respect and appreciation for women in society: mothers, wives, female colleagues – in this order.

What is it like in today’s Serbia? The glory of the holiday has faded and new challenges have arisen.

Women in the Workforce – a Growing Need in Emerging Europe and Central Asia

Emerging Europe and Central Asia (ECA) is an interesting region because what you expect is not always what exists. Since this is written in honor of International Women's Day, discussing women’s labor market participation seems appropriate. The standard indicator used for this is the “female labor force participation” (LFP) rate, which is the proportion of all women between 15-64 years who either work or are looking for work.

Since much of the region has a common socialist legacy, you would expect to see similar labor market behavior among women. However, the proportion of women who work ranges from a low of 42 percent in Bosnia and Herzegovina to 74 percent of adult women in Kazakhstan. And it wasn’t 20 years of social and economic transition that led to this divergence. Even in 1990, the range was about the same. The exception was Moldova which saw a 26 percentage point decline.

Why Saving Energy is So Hard

When most people think about energy, they see big power plants and smokestacks. What people generally do not consider is that it is much cheaper and more environmentally friendly to cut energy use than it is to build new power plants.

The problem is that saving energy is not simple. It requires changing deep-rooted behavior.

The Western Balkans – How Not to Waste a Good Crisis

With a double dip recession––after just two years of sluggish recovery––now taking hold across the Western Balkans it is time for policy makers to begin looking at ways the ongoing financial crisis can be leveraged to bring about lasting fiscal reform in these countries. After just two years of sluggish recovery, these countries as a group––Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia––are experiencing a drop in real GDP by 0.6 percent and it is now clear that the road to recovery in 2013 will be arduous.

Women – The Untapped Economic Potential in Serbia

How does Serbia fare on gender equality in the labor market? Did it manage to sustain some of the achievements of the former socialist regime, such as equal access to education opportunities, equal treatment of men and women in the labor law and high employment rates of men and women? The analysis of the recent labor force and enterprise surveys shows that although men and women have similar education levels and enjoy equal treatment in the labor legislation, there are major gender disparities in access to economic opportunities:

Prospects Daily: U.S. consumer sentiment rises for the fourth successive month

Important developments today:

1. U.S. consumer sentiment rises

For the fourth successive month US consumer sentiment rises. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment rose to 67.7 in December (a six-month high) from 64.1 the previous month. This is the fourth successive monthly increase in US consumer sentiment. In contrast to falling sentiments in Europe, US consumers have been buoyed by a drop in unemployment, falling gasoline prices, and the rebound in stocks from their August lows. In Q3 consumer spending contributed a robust 1.72 percentage points to U.S. GDP growth. The continued rise in U.S. consumer sentiment, if reflected in consumer spending, bodes well for Q4 GDP growth. However the escalating debt situation in the Euro Area, and wrangling in Congress on deficit-cutting measures could hold back additional gains in sentiment.

Among Emerging Markets

In East Asia and the Pacific, annual inflation in China has slowed sharply, dropping from 5.5% recorded in October to 4.2% in November, coming close to the government’s target 4% rate for 2011. The Producer Price Index registered an even sharper drop, from a 5% change in annual prices in October to 2.7% in November, the slowest pace since 1.7% growth was seen in December 2009. Inflation appears to have peaked at a three-year high of 6.5% in July.

In Central and Eastern Europe, Serbia’s central bank cut the key interest rate by 25 basis points to 9.75% at the last policy meeting. The central bank has cut the benchmark interest rate 6 times since June, taking it down from a high of 12.5% earlier this year. Annual inflation has eased in recent months from a peak of 14.7% in April to 8.7% in October, allowing the central bank to support the local economy from the negative shocks of the Euro Area crisis.

Bring in the Hooligans - Lessons in Coalition Building

A lesson in coalition building comes to us from Egypt via the New York Times. In an analysis of the build-up to the Egyptian Revolution, two NYT reporters show us how careful planning of events and allies led to one of the most important political events of our time in the region. The coalition that made such an impact consists of young people from Serbia, Tunisia, and Egypt, American and Russian intellectuals (some of them dead), Facebook groups, marketing specialists - and hooligans.

Media Events for Development Campaigns

Using large international events to get attention for a development objective is a pretty good idea. Events like the Soccer World Cup are so called media events - events that capture the attention of a large audience, that break our routines, and unify a large scattered audience. Whatever team you were cheering for, you weren't the only one cheering for it, and didn't you feel like your team's friends were also your friends? This kind of mood - attention and a feeling of community - provides a great environment for campaigns that want to raise awareness about certain issues or that want to change norms and behaviors.

DM2009 Finalist From Serbia Finds Funding

Since the DM2009 competition where our clean-water project was a finalist, we have received Serbian government funds for introducing new detection methods for the rapidly growing public health problem of cyanotoxins in water and plant and animal tissue.

Cyanobacteria has been on the Earth for 3.5 billion years, but global warming and climate change have significantly increased the occurrence of toxic cyanobacterial blooms, causing sickness and death for wildlife, livestock, and domesticated pets who drink freshwater contaminated with toxic algae blooms. The toxins pose a significant health threat to humans and other mammals that consume fish.

Thanks to the new funding from the Provincial Secretary for Science and Tehnological Development, our recent results, produced at the very beginning of 2010, show elevated content of toxins in fish meat, macrophyta tissue, and sediment of some commercial fish ponds. We also registered toxic blooms during December in one local lake.

Holiday Greetings From Serbia

Serbia

You are here

RESOURCES FOR