Given the need for a proactive role to be played by institutions in charge of employment policies, the two-year EU-funded project “Institutional and Capacity Building in Employment Sector in BiH” aims to provide new skills and to build capacities in labour offices at all levels in BiH. As a result, employment offices will be able to better identify the needs of employers and consequently create adequate training programmes for the professional retraining of unemployed persons and to better facilitate the process of finding employment.
“One of the main problems in the employment sector is the mismatch of labour market demands and the supply of labour force in BiH. This project is going to reduce the differences between these two extremes. This project is just one in a series that deal with improvement of the social image of Bosnia and Herzegovina on its path towards the EU. Before a new cycle of IPA, the EU will consider some of the recommendations arising from the project that are precisely defined by the users of the project,” said Dzemal Hodzic, programme manager at the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
An example of the project successful implementation is the established co-operation between the Employment office of Bosnia-Podrinje Canton and the company ASA Prevent Gorazde, which has enabled the retraining of more than 600 people who now have employment with this company.
“We are aware that the employment offices definitely have to work on the preparation of unemployed persons for the labour market. Through this project, we have established co-operation with education institutions, schools, ministries and the company, which has produced positive results and reduced unemployment” said Nafija Hodo, Director of Public Employment Services of Bosnia-Podrinje Canton. The project, worth 2.4 mill Euros was funded from IPA 2009 funds and was implemented by a consortium consisting of EPRD Ltd in co-operation with Gsub, PM International, Eptisa and S.C.I. Dominus.
