Bar community kitchen calls for national poverty strategy

Ljiljana Vujović, a representative of the Women of Bar Association, has called for a national strategy to combat poverty in Montenegro. Speaking on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, she highlighted that the association's community kitchen provides daily meals to 90 children.

Of the association's 250 total users, approximately 200 are currently homeless. Vujović warned that poverty is a generational issue that humanitarian organizations cannot solve alone. She noted that after eight years of operation, the association is considering closing the kitchen because they cannot rely indefinitely on private donations and citizen generosity without systemic state intervention.

She criticized current approaches for focusing on statistics and social cards rather than the actual needs of vulnerable individuals, particularly the elderly and children, emphasizing that poverty involves a lack of institutional support as much as a lack of food.