A European Union project supporting local partnerships for employment has helped to establish 19 local partnerships in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and enabled the creation of about 550 new jobs in its first phase. To build on this success, the EU has now allocated an additional €4 million to continue supporting such partnership initiatives in the labour market.
The second phase of this project will enable representatives of local authorities, education, public employment services and NGOs to work with employers to create sustainable, partnership-based mechanisms at the local level, which will increase access to formal employment. In cooperation with the International Labour Organization, the European Union will support 20 new local partnerships that will train more than 1,600 unemployed people for the local labour market, of whom at least 600 will be employed by the end of 2023. Grants will be available through a public call for local employment partnership projects.
The first phase of the Local Employment Partnership project was funded by the European Union with €4 million. Thenew phase of this project creates opportunities for new ideas in localities where there is still no formal alliance of key actors in the labour market. The main purpose is to activate and integrate unemployed people into the labour market while responding to the specific needs of employers.
The three winners of the EU Awards for Investigative Journalism were unveiled at a ceremony held in the Kosovo capital, Pristina, on 15 July. The awards recognise the best investigative stories published in 2020 in Kosovo. The prize-winning journalists had exposed important stories including illegal gambling, violation of anti-monopoly rules and fraud with college accreditations and degrees. The awards were presented by the EU Special Representative to Kosovo, Ambassador Tomáš Szuyog, who stressed that a free media and independent journalism is essential for any democratic society.
Jeta Xharra and Visar Prebreza came in first place for the best investigative story, “Unclean energy: A Kosovar who owned the sun”, about a Kosovan businessman who stands behind six companies registered in Malta, reaping millions of euros from the sale of solar energy – in violation of anti-monopoly rules. Second place went to Besa Kalaja and Besnik Boletini whose article “Victims of private colleges” addressed the manipulation practised for years by private colleges in Kosovo. A story by Kreshnik Gashi and Adelina Ahmeti about illegal gambling in the village of Karaçeva took third prize.
The pandemic-driven redesigning of the European Commission’s institution building instruments TAIEX and Twinning has created new opportunities for sharing EU expertise. As events are carried out with cameras and microphones, two successful virtual TAIEX events – on the Green Deal and EU digital policy – have been transformed into webinar series for the first time. They are now available to public administrations worldwide to promote Commission priorities – and the new digital opportunities of TAIEX. Each expert presentation has been subtitled in multiple languages.
In the first 12 months of fully virtual TAIEX, the instrument had on average 50% more attendees and was able to mobilise 58% more experts per event compared to the 12 months preceding the pandemic. More speakers make for more interesting, dynamic events, and more participants mean more impact on the ground.
Have a look at the webinars and share them with your partners.
TAIEX is the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument of the European Commission. TAIEX offers peer-to-peer technical assistance and policy support from public specialists based in EU Member States to beneficiaries in the Western Balkan region.
An EU-funded project supports Albania and Montenegro in promoting local cuisine internationally
Ivana Babović lives in the picturesque village of Konjuhe near Andrijevica in northern Montenegro. The village is far from the coast and other places for which Montenegro is known among visitors. Agriculture had been the main source of income for Ivana, her four children and her husband until five years ago when representatives of the Regional Development Agency for Bjelasica, Komovi and Prokletije visited their village. They had come to talk about the villagers’ possible involvement in business through an EU-funded project. Ivana says this was a shock for her and her friends from the village, as their village was rarely visited by anyone, let alone by people inviting them to become businesswomen.
Apart from its natural beauties and traditional architecture, Ivana’s area is also rich in traditional cuisine. This is a result of the abundance of organic fruit and vegetables which have inspired a variety of traditional recipes which were very little known by outsiders until the start of this project. Delicacies include porridge prepared from corn, ground in the traditional way in the village mill; pies made with sorrel and homemade cheese; dishes with organic meat; and home-made rakija.
“When we started the first training, we were not very optimistic about the outcome, and the other people from the village were sceptical and to some degree making fun of us, saying ‘you are going to school’. But when the first visitor came, things changed.”
A journey from a village to international clients
Ivana was one of the first women to agree to become part of the project. She had been used to cooking for her family and hosting family and friends, but cooking and hosting strangers in return for financial compensation was a totally new game for her. “Until then I was a housewife. I didn’t have any idea about business, and the decision to embark on entrepreneurship was not an easy one,” she says. However, the project provided full support with skills related to professional hosting such as behaviour with visitors, food presentation and offering activities for tourists.
“Believe me, when we started the first training, we were not very optimistic about the outcome, and the other people from the village were sceptical and to some degree making fun of us, saying ‘you are going to school’. But when the first visitor came, things changed,” says Ivana. Her first visitor was a young woman from Belgium who stayed for three days, living and cooking with the family.
Five years later, Ivana and her family regularly host visitors from around the world, and tourism has become the main income for her family. One of her daughters is now even studying tourism and thinking of further increasing the business.
The EU-funded Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) project on local cuisine as a tourism offer of the cross-border regionhas two major components. Ivana and her family benefited from the component on gastronomy routes which included support to village families and connecting villages in Albania and Montenegro with one another to offer an integrated route-based concept of tourism focused on gastronomy.
An equally important project component was including the traditional local recipes in the tourist offer by researching and preserving regional dishes and using these dishes in local restaurants and gastronomy routes including the development of tasting points at rural homes. The aim was to revive some of the forgotten dishes and train local chefs and cooks to prepare them, so that these dishes could find their place in the menus of local hotels and restaurants.
“We are very proud of the success of our cookbook as this is success not only for our project but also for the countries featured in this project.”
About the project
The EU-funded “Local Cuisine as a Tourism Offer in the Cross-Border Region” project started in 2018 and ended in 2020. The aim of the project was to enhance the competitiveness of the tourism sector by including local gastronomy in the overall tourism offer of the cross-border area. The project was implemented by RDA Bjelasica, Komovi i Prokletije and the National Tourism Organisation from Montenegro in cooperation with Eco-Partners for Sustainable Development and Pukë Municipality in Albania.
Jelena explains that the food is similar on both sides of the border yet has distinctive tastes and features. This important cross-border element has enriched the project and the tourism offer of the region.
The cookbook produced by the project won the first place in the food tourism category in the Food Culture 2021competition in June 2021. From June to September the book is on display at the Alfred Nobel Museum in Sweden. “We are very proud of the success of our cookbook as this is success not only for our project but also for the countries featured in this CBC project,” says Jelena Krivčević, the project manager.
This study presents a comparative analysis of the region’s youth labour markets. It includes key indicators of the youth labour market, the main youth employment measures adopted in each economy and the key issues around introducing a form of Youth Guarantee in line with the EU ambition to assist in the further development of the region’s youth labour markets.
European Economy Institutional Papers are important reports analysing the economic situation and economic developments prepared by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs. This paper contains the Commission staff’s assessments of the ERPs 2021-2023.
This report highlights results and achievements of on the Western Balkans Investment Framework’s (WBIF) support during 2020. The WBIF is a donor coordination platform that pools funds from various sources, including the European Commission. The WBIF provides supports strategic investments in energy, environment, social, transport and digital infrastructure, as well as the private sector.
The European Union is inviting young people from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia to participate in a youth exchange programme focused on peace education. The regional training is in cooperation with the Balkans Let’s Get Up! organisation and Udhëtim i Lirë – Liberi di Viaggare, and with the support of the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) and Youth for Peace within the P.A.C.E (Peace and Conflict Education) project.
The youth exchange will be held from 10 to 15 August in Durrës, Albania. A total of 21 participants will be selected for the exchange, including seven young people from Albania, seven from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and seven from Serbia. All costs of transportation, accommodation, food and materials are covered by the organisers.
Applications are open until 25 July 2021, at 23.59.
The Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) is an independently functioning institutional mechanism founded by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, aiming to promote the spirit of reconciliation and cooperation between the youth in the region through youth exchange programmes. RYCO is financed by the governments of the region and supported by the EU and other donors.
On 19 Julythe Council extended the mandates of the EU special representatives (EUSRs) in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Kosovo for two years, until31 August 2023.
The EU Special Representative inBosnia and Herzegovina,Johann Sattler, was first appointed on 8 August 2019, with the task of contributing to policy objectives such as continuing progress in the Stabilisation and Association Process ensuring a stable, viable, peaceful, multi-ethnic and united country that cooperates peacefully with its neighbours, and ensuring that the country is irreversibly on track towards EU membership.
The EU Special Representative inKosovo,Tomáš Szunyog, was appointed on 1 September 2020, with the task of contributing to similar policy objectives – promoting a stable, viable, peaceful, democratic and multi-ethnic Kosovo, and supporting Kosovo’s European future and harmonisation with the EU in line with the region’s future prospects and in accordance with the Stabilisation and Association Agreement.
EU special representatives promote the EU’s policies and interests in specific regions and countries, and work on issues of particular concern or interest for the EU. They play an active role in efforts to consolidate peace, stability and the rule of law. The first EUSRs were appointed in 1996.
The European Union has donated 35 ECG monitors and PCR devices to healthcare institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This donation is part of the EU’s continued support to BiH in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences. The donations were delivered as part of an EU-funded project worth €7.7 million aiming to provide health institutions across Bosnia and Herzegovina with much needed medical equipment.
The ECG machines will be important for doctors investigating and treating heart conditions, while the PCR device will help fast sampling of COVID-19 tests. Although COVID-19 is primarily known as a disease which affects the lungs, it also has been shown to damage other organs, including the heart. As a result, healthcare institutions require a wide range of equipment to cope with the consequences.
To this end, in cooperation with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) the EU has supplied hospitals and other medical facilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina with medical equipment such as these ECG monitors and PCR devices as well as ventilators, X-ray machines, and ultrasound devices.
The equipment was provided to healthcare institutions in the Brčko District, Goražde, Gradiška, Livno, Mostar, Nova Bila, Posavina Canton, Sarajevo and East Sarajevo, Travnik, Trebinje, Tuzla Canton, West Herzegovina Canton, and Zenica.
