Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Serbia participate in risk assessment methodology workshop

The Chamber of Commerce of Serbia (PKS) and the United Nations for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia organized a workshop on "Risk Assessment Methodology for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Serbia". The workshop took place on February 8, 2023, in Belgrade, Serbia and gathered various stakeholders including SMEs, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Interior and others. The goal of the workshop is to present the UNDRR tool for quick risk assessment for SMEs and open a discussion among SMEs and other stakeholder how best to localize it. The workshop resulted in  key recommendations for improvement and the finalization of the methodology in Serbian.

The UNDRR Quick Risk Assessment tool aims to help small businesses and enterprises to better understand their exposure and vulnerability to disaster risks and it points to corrective actions.During the workshop Katarina Obradović Jovanović, Assistant Minister of Economy said: “Until now, the approach to this topic has been ad hoc. By launching this initiative, the foundations have been laid for transitioning from an ad hoc approach to prevention. The development of SMEs risk assessment tool for can assist SMEs in preparing themselves for a quicker recovery. Since the development of a new strategy for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises is currently underway, special attention will be given to SMEs resilience building measures aimed at raising awareness”.

This workshop is part of the USAID funded initiative “Building resilience of SMEs in Serbia,” which aims to build a baseline understanding of where small and medium businesses are in terms of understanding and managing risks and provide recommendations and provide recommendations to enhancing knowledge, skills and practices related to disaster risk reduction and setting up a systemic approach to planning and integrated management of risks