Under the third call of the Interreg Danube Region Programme, launched in September 2025, the international project NONA LEAP – Shaping New Leaders for Active Participation of Civil Society in Building Resilient Communities (DRP0502117) was approved following a several-month evaluation process. The project aims to strengthen governance capacities and enhance the involvement of civil society, youth and other local stakeholders in territorial development and participatory governance processes. The project will run for 30 months.
The full list of projects approved under the third call of the Interreg Danube Region Programme is available on the Programme’s official website.
The Lead Partner is the Geodetic Institute of Slovenia, while the consortium brings together 15 project partners from 12 countries of the Danube Region: Slovenia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania, Moldova, Germany and Ukraine.
Project activities will be tested across 11 pilot areas, comprising three metropolitan areas – Stuttgart, Sofia and Chisinau; five medium-sized cities – Veszprém, Šabac, Žepče, Varaždin and Bistrița; and three small border towns – Ravne na Koroškem, Virovitica and Reni.
The Serbian project partners are the Institute of Architecture and Urban & Spatial Planning of Serbia (IAUS) and the Belgrade School of Engineering Management (FIM), while the City of Šabac is an Associated Strategic Partner of IAUS.
IAUS has an important methodological role in the project, particularly in developing approaches for strengthening the capacities of local stakeholders and engaging civil society in decision-making processes, as well as in the implementation and monitoring of the project methodology in the Šabac pilot area.