The first National Annual Award for Best Practices in Applying Good Governance Principles at the Local Level in 2018 was established at the initiative of the Ministry and the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM), with the support of the Programme "Enhancing Good Governance and Social Inclusion for Municipal Development – Swiss PRO". The Ministry’s organisation of the competition for the second year in a row makes the Annual Award a long-term measure of the Government of Serbia which encourages and strengthens local governments to continuously work on raising the quality of services provided by the public sector to the citizens and the economy.

The annual best practice award is awarded in four areas: 

• Efficiency and Effectiveness,
• Transparency and Public Participation in the Work of a Local Self-Government,
• Accountability and the Rule of Law, and
• Equality and Non-Discrimination.

The funds which will be awarded to the competition winners by the Ministry from the Budget for the local self-government programme amount to 9.2 million dinars. The winners in each of the four areas will be entitled to a financial prize of 2.3 million dinars.

In addition to the funds from the Ministry's Budget, and in order to strengthen support for the development and implementation of the good governance principles in the work of local governments, the winners of the competition will be awarded additional funds allocated by the SCTM from the Swiss PRO budget. The total fund from this additional source of financing the Annual Award amounts to 7.2 million dinars and will be distributed equally to the four winners, according to the conditions of the Public Call.

Applications for the competition for the annual award for the best municipal/city administration are submitted exclusively electronically, to the following e-mail address: godisnja.nagrada@mduls.gov.rs, using the appropriate application form which can be downloaded from the website of the Ministry. Local self-governments do not apply according to a special procedure for additional funds, but submit a single application justified in the application form, according to the conditions from the Public Call.

The received applications will be evaluated on the basis of pre-defined criteria by a commission consisting of representatives of the Ministry, SCTM and the Swiss PRO programme. After the evaluation, the commission will form a proposal of the decision on the annual award winner for each of the mentioned areas and submit it to the minister in charge of local self-government who will make the decision.

The Ministry will conclude agreements on the use of grants from the Budget Fund with the local self-government units to which the award will be given, and will transfer the approved amount. Also, the SCTM will sign special grant agreements with the winners of the competition for funds allocated from the budget of the Swiss PRO programme.

The text of the Public Call and the application form can be found on the MPALS website.