Project “Support to socio-economic stability in the western Balkans region 2019-2020”

Supported financially by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the German Government, co-financed by the partner municipalities in Kosovo.

The overall objective of the program is to empower economically and socially vulnerable groups and enable social inclusion

Specific objectives of the program:

Specific Objective 1:

Decreased levels of poverty among economically vulnerable groups

Specific Objective 2:

Improvement of the treatment programs in correctional institutes and the process of re-integration into society

Specific Objective 3:

Better inclusion of Roma and vulnerable social cases in the society and migration prevention

In the Republic of Kosovo during 2019 & 2020 will be implemented the follow components:

  1. Grants for micro businesses, provision of 200 grants to seven municipalities
  2. Business and vocational trainings, at least 430 persons
  3. Support to three Correctional centres with equipment in the rehabilitation and re-socialization of convicts

Project: “Self Employment Training Program”

Duration: July 30, 2018 – October 31, 2019

Expanding job opportunities for youth in Kosovo is the focus of our latest Self-Employment Training Program. USAID Empower Private Sector project signed a grant agreement with organization Help Kosovo to implement the training program which aims to foster employ-ability and entrepreneurship of vulnerable and marginalized youth in Gjilan, Viti, Kacanik, and Hani i Elezit. In the next 15 months, the program will deliver business skills training to around 200 youth, and upon completion, the top 32 business proposals presented by the trained youth will receive small grants to start their own businesses. In partnership with Sida – Styrelsen för Internationellt Utvecklingssamarbete.

The objective of this Activity is to foster youth employability and entrepreneurship for vulnerable and marginalized youth through the Self-Employment (SE) Training Program in the municipalities of Kacanik, Hani i Elezit, Viti, and Gjilan.

The SE program will consist of two components: a relevant “business training” course, followed by the provision of self-employment grants to a selected number of high-potential youth participants. Key partners in collaborating in implementation will include local municipalities, the MLSW and other relevant local organizations. Business trainings will be provided in each municipality for two groups of 25 participants. This adds to a total of 200 people. At least 32 selected participants will receive a self-employment grant of up to EUR 3,650, amounting to a total of 32 youth grantees.

Help, in coordination with relevant municipality representatives, will reach, recruit, train, and provide self-employment grants. In total, 200 young people will attend a five (5) day business training course and in each municipality, there will be two (2) groups of 25 participants. The training will cover:

  1. Generating and refining your business idea, start-up basics, how to register a new business
  2. Introduction to business plans, business plan building basics
  3. Market research and strategic planning
  4. Marketing for small business, small business promotion, and social media platforms
  5. Small business accounting and taxes.