With the support of the European Union (EU) and the Swiss Government, extended through the European PROGRES development Programme, ten South-East and South-West Serbian local self-governments (LSGs) will implement projects aimed at increasing the employability of vulnerable and difficult-to-employ groups of the population through the improvement of their skills and knowledge. The LSGs and employers that have expressed interest in opening new jobs will organise vocational training and internships identified as active employment measures in the local employment action plans.
“Through these projects, the EU and Swiss Government are contributing to the reduction of both the unemployment in the municipalities, especially among the vulnerable population, and the supply and demand gaps in the local labour markets,” said European PROGRES Programme Manager Graeme Tyndall.
During the implementation of the projects in the following ten LSGs in the Programme Area of Responsibility (AoR) - Aleksinac, Babušnica, Bela Palanka, Doljevac, Ivanjica, Prijepolje, Prokuplje, Sjenica, Trgovište and Vranje - in the upcoming eight months, 260 people are expected to complete various forms of training in the public and private sectors and, subsequently, at least 150 of them are expected to be hired.
Pursuant to the 2016 National Employment Plan and the local labour market needs identified as crucial by the LSGs, the support focuses on the difficult-to-employ categories of the population, primarily workers under 30 years of age, workers with lower levels of education, Roma workers, workers over 50 years of age and the long-term unemployed.
“Testing in the Doljevac municipality is planned for December 2016 and January 2017 and local employers are expected to open 100 new jobs upon the completion of the vocational training of the unemployed workers registered with the National Employment Service, organised with the support of the EU and the Swiss Government,” said Neda Jovanović of the Doljevac Local Economic Development Office.
The projects, for which the donors earmarked nearly 100,000 Euro via European PROGRES and for which the LSGs secured 32,000 Euro worth of co-funding, were ranked as best in terms of sustainability, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the proposed measures within a Public Call for Proposals opened from 17 August to 22 September 2016. All LSGs in the AoR, which had adopted their 2016 Local Employment Plans, were eligible to apply.
The list of approved projects is available on the European PROGRES’ website http://www.europeanprogres.org/konten/en/577/Results-of-the-Cal-for-Proposals-Suport-to-LSGs-in-implementation-of-vocational-training/.
