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Author: WeBalkans

The EU continues to help BiH to improve its education system with new €2.6 million project

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In the past 15 years, educational reforms have been implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a focus on strengthening higher, general, vocational and adult education. However, several surveys – as well as the latest report of the European Commission – point to a large disparity between the knowledge and skills of jobseekers coming out of the education system, and the needs of the labour market.  
Within the “Education for Employment” project launched today, the European Union is providing €2.6 million to assist BiH authorities in improving capacity and structures for planning the educational process and the quality of educational outcomes. The project will address existing shortcomings, given the mismatch between education and training systems and the needs of the labour market. The project will provide this support through the development of modern lifelong career guidance services, as well as better higher education and vocational education and training.  
“On behalf of the European Union, I am very glad to kick off this project which will address very relevant areas of education in BiH, in particular the reform of teacher training and the development of a model for monitoring of progress of reform processes based on external assessments of education systems through international tests of students such as PISA, PIRLS, and TIMMS,” said Gianluca Vannini, Head of the Operations Section for Social Development, Civil Society and Cross-Border Cooperation in the EU Delegation to BiH.
 
The “Education for Employment” project will help strengthen staff capacity in the Ministry of Education, agencies, pedagogical institutes and schools so they will be able to make regular assessments of the situation in the education sector and use the results of this assessment for research and the planning of educational policies. This will further enable experts in the education sector to analyse and transform the results of external testing of students conducted both nationally and internationally.  
In addition, the project will address the further development of entrepreneurial competencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, initiating a policy discussion, as well as offering pilot activities in the field of digital competencies. It will last for 30 months and is extremely important both for strengthening the education system and for economic development in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

National civil society conference discusses the sector’s challenges in Albania

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The EU-funded National Resource Centre for Civil Society in Albania gathered more than 100 representatives from Albanian civil society organisations online to discuss the challenges they are facing. The conference brought together organisations, networks and civil society activists, as well as representatives of state institutions, donors and international organisations.

 

The EU Ambassador to Albania, Luigi Soreca, was also part of the conference. In his opening remarks he stressed that civil society involvement in policy-making is essential but currently unsatisfactory in Albania, advising that: “Public authorities should ensure the participation of civil society in reform processes. Important efforts are still needed to have effective consultation processes with civil society before legislation is adopted. Consultations that are not done consistently and coherently may compromise the quality of new laws and future steps in the accession process.”

 

The main issues discussed at the conference related to the development of the sector and its role in policy-making, in the strengthening of democracy and in the country’s socio-economic development.

 

The National Resource Centre for Civil Society in Albania is an EU-funded platform of information and service provision which contributes to the strengthening of civil society’s capacities to be more effective, transparent, accountable and independent actors. It supports the creation of an enabling environment for civil society, participatory democracy and Albania’s process of integration into the European Union. The initiative is financed by the European Union and is implemented by Partners Albania in partnership with the Albanian Center for Population and Development (ACPD) and the European Movement in Albania (EMA).

The EU4Schools and EU4Culture programmes respond to the November 2019 earthquake in Albania

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26 November 2020 A year ago, Albania was hit by a deadly earthquake which caused significant casualties as well as widespread damage to public and private property. Affected sites included educational facilities and cultural heritage monuments.

 

The European Commission has pledged €115 million in grants to support reconstruction through the EU4Schools and the EU4Culture programmes. Works under both programmes are ongoing.

 

Earlier this week, EU Ambassador Luigi Soreca visited two of the schools currently under repair and reconstruction in Durrës and Kruja. He said: “Schools are the real symbol of recovery for society, and offer a new beginning for the children affected by the destruction of their schools. The work sites I visited are the embodiment of the solid ties of solidarity between the citizens of the EU and Albania. Since day one, the European Union has continuously been on the frontline of helping Albania.”

 

The EU4Schools programme is providing €75 million to rebuild and repair 58 educational facilities in the 11 earthquake-affected municipalities through the United Nations Development Programme. Twenty thousand school and kindergarten children, as well as more than 200,000 community members, will benefit from the programme.

 

The Albanian economy is heavily dependent on tourism, which has faced a double disaster this year with the damage of the country’s cultural heritage sites and the unprecedented COVID-19 global pandemic. The EU4Culture project, agreed in October, seeks to address this situation by revitalising earthquake-affected cultural heritage sites in Albania with a focus on boosting tourism and local economic development. The EU4Culture provides €40 million for the restoration of cultural heritage sites through the United Nations Office for Project Services.

 

The reconstruction work for both programmes combines the “Build Back Better” and “Build Better Together” approaches for every community — bringing together local governments, communities and public institutions in designing and implementing rapid recovery activities through transparent systems, while at the same time promoting ownership and the sustainability of the investment.

The Regional Cooperation Council and UNDP launch Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative

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Currently, 40% of all those employed in the Western Balkans are women, but more than 23% of them hold insecure jobs. Only 27.5% of business owners in the Western Balkans are women, and just 14.2% of companies’ top managers are female. The share of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) occupations is 14% due to gender stereotypes, pay gaps and gender bias that prevent many girls in the region from choosing an education in STEM fields.

 

The Regional Cooperation Council and UNDP have therefore launched the Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative. The main goal of this initiative is to encourage reforms that will foster women’s participation and leadership in the economy, reducing gender gaps and promoting further economic development of the region. More specifically, the initiative will establish a Regional Network of Women in STEM, prepare an action plan to advance women’s involvement in STEM fields, facilitate regional dialogue leading to women’s economic empowerment initiatives, and increase knowledge and awareness about women’s active role in society, including their contribution to economic growth and sustainable development.

 

The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) is co-funded by the European Union.

Tradition, fashion and art make a business

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A woman from Rožaje in Montenegro blends tradition, fashion and art to start a new business. Igbala Murić, 49, lives in the small border town of Rožaje in Montenegro. From a young age she enjoyed sewing traditional textiles like bedding, clothes, and napkins. As a high school student she had already decided that she would build a professional life based on these skills. In agreement with her parents, she registered at a professional high school for textile production. Later in life she worked as a tailor in companies in Montenegro and Turkey, but this work did not include traditional crafts. “I missed working on our traditional clothes and other textiles. Our traditional clothing is unique and beautiful, and it is also our cultural heritage,” she says. All along, Igbala wanted to do something about the preservation of this traditional heritage in textiles. Her idea was to start her own business that would specialise in the production of her culture’s traditional clothing. But for this, she needed financial support and to know how to start and manage a business. Years passed, but she was not able to initiate anything sustainable. “Our traditional clothing is unique and beautiful, and our cultural heritage” Finding the right support In 2019 Igbala heard about the ‘Craftsman’ project funded as part of the IPA CBC Programme Serbia – Montenegro 2014 – 2020, financed by the European Union. The project that provided support for women and young people in the Rožaje region in Montenegro and Sjenica region in Seribia. She registered a company and applied for support. She participated in a training programme for business management, received a new sewing machine from the project, and entered the world of entrepreneurship. The project provided support to more than 90 individuals like Igbala by involving them in this training and a mentoring programme. As a result of the support, she has increased production since the beginning of this year and had been planning to employ other women until plans got interrupted by the pandemic. “I was working mainly on handicrafts. The support from the project provided me with an opportunity to expand my business, increase production, and also sell in other parts of Montenegro,” she says.

“The support from the project provided me with an opportunity to expand my business, increase production, and also sell in other parts of Montenegro”

Amela Kovačević Kalender, the project manager, says: ‘The municipality of Rožaje is proud to support local economic development, with a strong focus on job creation and entrepreneurship. We aim to encourage people to pursue their ideas and to show that even small initiatives can have a significant impact on the local economy.’ The implementing partners of the project are the Municipality of Rožaje and the Municipality of Sjenica, in cooperation with the two vocational schools from these cities. The ‘Craftsman’ project was funded as part of the IPA CBC Programme Serbia – Montenegro 2014 – 2020, financed by the European Union. Helping traditional businesses Micro, small and medium enterprises play a crucial role in employing a diverse workforce and income generation for local communities in both Montenegro and Serbia. Under the leadership of local authorities, the project has supported collaboration amongst secondary vocational schools from target municipalities to renew interest in traditional businesses like handcrafts. The project has generated new jobs for vulnerable parts of the population, including youth and women, by providing the help they need in terms of business knowledge, start-up support, training and mentoring. Additionally, the project has provided specialised craft tools to secondary schools in Rožaje and nearby Sjenica in Serbia, to be used by students and other potential entrepreneurs.

Voicing equality with fashion design

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A fashion designer from North Macedonia reflects punk philosophy in her designs Teodora began listening to punk music when she was 14. “Before that I was an ordinary child, I had Barbie dolls and my room was painted pink. Everything was super girly,” she says, remembering the kinds of clothes she would sew for her Barbies. She explains that she grew up with a lot of love and care from her parents in an almost ideal childhood. But as a teenager she became rebellious. How to find punk style in Skopje? As Teodora moved from pink to punk, she wanted to dress accordingly. However, her hometown – Skopje – did not have any shops that sold punk-style clothes. She explains, “I knew some kids whose parents had been into punk when they were young so they would wear their parents’ old clothes. I was not in that position so I started to design and sew my own punk clothes.” Back then Teodora didn’t know that this would be the beginning of her own fashion brand and her career in design. It was later that she decided to study fashion design and chose to go to London where punk culture had begun. While she was there, she developed her designs. “Punk, to me, has always been about just letting go of what society thinks and being free,” she says, and Teodora’s creations reflect that by using unconventional materials and mixing gender norms. “I knew some kids whose parents had been into punk when they were young so they would wear their parents’ old clothes. I was not in that position so I started to design and sew my own punk clothes.” When she graduated from Middlesex University in London, Teodora began looking for ways to get into the fashion market by promoting and selling her own brand. She knew that having a unique brand may be a blessing, but it also comes with challenges — it was a struggle to find a place in the market alongside mainstream brands. She was only 21 and opportunities were scarce but Fashion Weekend Skopje, an NGO from her hometown, invited her to showcase her work at Riga Fashion Week and later at Lisbon Fashion Week. “I could not believe that this was happening! Sveta from Fashion Weekend Skopje had heard that I had graduated, and had my graduation collection ready. She called me and said that I would be a good candidate to represent North Macedonia in these shows. I was thrilled,” Teodora smiles. Along with partners from Belgium, France, Germany, Latvia, and Portugal, Fashion Weekend Skopje had launched a project called United Fashion, funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. The project helps young designers promote their work, learn new skills in marketing fashion and make connections with colleagues and fashion companies across Europe. Learning the basics Teodora says she saw this as a great opportunity to learn the practicalities of the fashion industry. “I wanted to learn how you prepare for a fashion show, how you do hair and make-up or how models rehearse.” In both Lisbon and Riga, Teodora also participated in workshops and seminars with guest speakers discussing production and collaboration opportunities, sustainability of brands, and marketing strategies. Nevertheless, she realises that it was “the mingling that we had in cocktail parties where I got to chat with particular manufacturers and understand how the industry really works” that helped her most.

“Punk, to me, has always been about just letting go of what society thinks and being free”

Making punk big Teodora currently works as a graduate academic assistant at Middlesex University. She is still actively promoting her brand, using all that she has learned, and aims to become a designer who is well-known in Europe and beyond. “I have this feeling that I can do something really big. It sounds like a cliché, but I firmly believe that one day I am going to be big,” she says.

Natural adventures in the Western Balkans with Nol and his company

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A young entrepreneur from Kosovo grows his rural tourism company with the support of the European Union Nol Krasniqi is a member of the Kosovo rock climbing team, an environmental activist and a mountain tour guide. He lives in the city of Peja in Kosovo, which is surrounded by the Accursed Mountains – one of the most spectacular mountain ranges in the Western Balkans. Gazing up at the limestone crags you can easily see why these mountains are an attraction for many tourists. Nol has been working as a solo mountain tour guide since he was 18 years old, and in 2014, he decided to turn this part-time job into a full-time business, along with his business partner Virtyt. A better offer Nol explains that they began thinking about the mountain tourism business when the numbers of visitors to the city and the surrounding mountains increased, and the first tour operators entered the market. “They were offering very few tour options. We thought that we could offer something better, and we launched the company,” he says. Six years later, Balkan Natural Adventure has become an important competitor in the mountain tourism sector not only in Kosovo, but also in neighbouring Albania and Montenegro. “The support provided by the European Union was an important milestone for the sustainability of our company” New market strategy The company has already hosted over 700 tourist groups. However, despite this success they have also had struggles and challenges. From the very beginning tourist transport was a big problem because of the cost and reliability of the service. Initially they subcontracted small buses and taxis depending on the number of visitors in the group. But this was only a short-term solution. “Our main visitor group structure is around eight people. The market did not offer the best solutions for this size of group: we often had to rent minibuses with 20 seats or rent two cars. It was not financially viable,” says Nol. In addition, the car rental companies were not always reliable, and this added to the challenge. “We were concentrating on mountain tourism and then we saw that cultural tours were increasing — we needed to diversify.” Three years ago, Nol’s business partner, Virtyt, saw an open call launched by the European Union on social media for support to companies, including those working in tourism. As Balkan Natural Adventure needed the support they decided to apply. They asked for help with international advertising, research to develop cultural tours and purchasing a van with eight passenger seats to solve their transport difficulties. Their proposal was approved, and they were co-financed for all their needs by the European Union. “The support provided by the European Union was an important milestone for the sustainability of our company. Apart from increasing the reliability and volume of our services, we hired more people. Now we have three full-time people working in the sales and administration department and we have 15 part-time personnel working as tour guides and drivers,” says Nol. He describes their current team as professional and explains that it includes guides from Albania and Montenegro. “Initially, we had problems finding people dedicated to guiding. However, after we had some good examples of how guides earned a year’s salary in four months, things started to change.” If it wasn’t for the COVID-19 pandemic, Balkan Natural Adventure would have hosted 500 tourist groups this year. This would have been important growth. Despite the pandemic, Nol and his partner project a bright future for their company: over the next ten years, they expect to add 40 part-time tour guides and drivers and increase their full time staff to ten people

“More and more people are looking to sustainable tourism as their future”

But there are still other types of challenges ahead. The main ones are illegal construction in the mountains, hydropower plants and air pollution. Nol is optimistic though. “More and more people are looking to sustainable tourism as their future,” he says. “After our advertising campaign we had more bookings for 2020 than we had over the last three years combined. COVID played its part but fortunately most clients postponed: they did not cancel, so our investment was not lost,” stresses Nol.

Bringing the local and EU perspectives closer for better integration

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A woman from Bosnia and Herzegovina uses her international Erasmus experience to bring local and EU perspectives together Amela studied nursing in high school. As she was a very good student, she had the option to study medicine and become a doctor. However, soon after finishing high school her plans for future profession began to take on a different shape. “I realised that if I continued at the medical faculty this would mean another six years of hard work and study. I was young and was looking for more life experience, so I decided to take a one-year break,” she says. The original plan for a one-year break was prolonged by another five years. She began working at her brother’s bakery then moved to the United States, worked as a photographer and then travelled back to Europe and worked as a private governess in Switzerland and a private English language teacher in Germany. Amela says she appreciated this experience very much as it broadened her cultural perspective and taught her a lot about life. She also really enjoyed the international working environment. “The experience abroad proved that I was good at making connections, and in addition I could now speak foreign languages confidently” Returning home On returning to Bosnia and Herzegovina she finished her nursing internship but with all her international experience she was not sure that she wanted to work as a nurse or study medicine anymore. Her experiences during the break made her professional aspirations take a totally different direction. “The six-year experience abroad proved that I was good at making connections, and in addition I could now speak foreign languages confidently. So I decided to study international relations at Sarajevo University,” Amela says. From her international experience she also knew that the level of education in EU universities was better than in Bosnia and Herzegovina. So when she came across an opportunity from ERASMUS + to complete part of her studies in an EU country she had no hesitation in applying. Through the Erasmus student exchange programme she had the opportunity to study one semester in France and another in Lithuania. Going abroad again Amela describes the experience with Erasmus as “amazing”. In terms of quality she was most impressed with the access to libraries and resources that were all digital, with many more sources and richer content available than she was used to. “It is something that we really lack here in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” she says. Something else that made an impression on Amela was the open professional relationship between students and professors. Amela explains that In Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially in state universities there is a strict hierarchy between the student and the professor. “Here, your opinion is not taken into consideration because you are just a student, but in the universities in Lithuania and France my opinion was considered and appreciated. That was a huge benefit,” she says.

“I am from Bosnia but I also feel quite European. Because of my professional and life experience, I am able to consider both perspectives”

Her plan is to work in an EU institution on graduation. Amela believes that in some cases there is a missing link regarding the EU integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This missing link is the local perspective. According to her, the integration at government level is moving successfully but the same cannot be said for integration at the level of the people. “I would be delighted to contribute to this. That is why I chose a Master’s programme called ‘Global Studies – European Perspective’ where I can bring the global and local together,” she says. Having seen all that could be gained from an Erasmus experience, when Amela graduated she applied to do her Master’s studies through Erasmus too. She is currently completing an Erasmus Mundus joint Master’s degree in Leipzig and Vienna. “I am from Bosnia, but I also feel quite European. Because of my professional and life experience I am able to consider both perspectives and this could be very useful,’ Amela says.

Preventing floods with the support of nature

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A university in Albania has developed a project to prevent flooding by installing biodegradable natural fibre logs and planting on riverbeds “She’s the kind of professor who inspires us to look deeper and research further on every topic,” says one of Professor Enkelejda Kucaj’s students at Polis University in Tirana, about her lectures on the environment. Professor Kucaj brings the same inspirational passion to her research. As part of her PhD she developed a key study on pollution in the Lana and Tirana rivers in Albania. This work made her want to study an equally important and related topic – the prevention of river floods – but had to delay it. “Because of a lack of time and resources, I was just not able to deal with this problem,” she says.

“I have studied vegetation for 15 years, and one of the main conclusions for me is that nature restores itself if there is no human intervention”

An opportunity opens

However, a while later she was provided with an excellent opportunity to take on this significant challenge. The National Territorial Planning Agency of Albania invited Polis University to present innovative project proposals related to resilience to floods, droughts and extreme weather. The invitation came as part of the EU-funded BRIGAID project that had opened a call for proposals. Professor Kucaj’s team at Polis University presented an innovative solution that was based on the adaptation of eco-friendly techniques to prevent river floods. The proposal was approved and Professor Kucaj and her team of students and other colleagues from the university started to work on the implementation. The Erzeni River was selected as a testing site.

“I believe that the most important impact of this project is the involvement of students. They have been active in this project and they are ready to explore further”

The BRIGAID project is implemented by 24 partners from different countries; mostly universities, small and medium-sized enterprises, and research institutes. The consortium is led by the Technological University of Delft in the Netherlands and is financed by the Horizon 2020 programme of the European Union. The project partner in Albania is the National Territorial Planning Agency government department. Nensi Lalaj from the National Territorial Planning Agency (NTPA) is the local coordinator of the project. She explains that successful innovations to manage climate change are particularly challenging in Albania where people are not familiar with these concepts. It is therefore important to involve as many stakeholders as possible so that research, academia and end users can work together. According to Lalaj, projects like BRIGAID also help a new generation to transfer their knowledge into practice. “I believe that the most important impact of this project is the involvement of students. They have been active in this project and they are ready to explore further,” she says.

Turning the Sharr mountains into a favourite destination for rural tourism

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Nature, sport and culture combined – how one region in Kosovo is embracing its tourism potential thanks to an EU-funded project Prizren is a charming historical city and it is also a favourite destination for many local and international tourists. According to the Kosovo Statistics Agency, Prizren has more visitors than any other municipality in Kosovo. However, this visitor traffic is not reflected in overnight stays. Four years ago, the municipal authorities identified this contradiction and carried out a survey of visitors to understand the root cause. The survey clarified the reasons: Prizren is a small city, and most of the important cultural heritage monuments can be visited in one or two days. Therefore, most tourists don’t stay longer. Prizren lies in the vicinity of the Sharr Mountains so, apart from its cultural heritage, the city also has a beautiful natural environment ready to be used for hiking and other nature-related activities: an incentive for tourists to stay longer. But until three years ago, there was very little infrastructure in place for visitors to enjoy the mountains. The Sharri Mountaineers’ Association, an NGO from Prizren, decided to take action. Along with colleagues from another, more experienced NGO – Marimangat Alpine Association from Peja – they started planning work on marking and signposting new hiking routes and developing a promotional campaign to advertise the region as a natural adventure destination.

“This was a very good opportunity as we needed funds to implement our idea. But in order to apply for this call we had to find a partner from the other side of the border.”

Cross-border partners At the same time, the EU-funded Cross-Border Cooperation Programme Kosovo – North Macedonia launched a call for projects that contribute to encouraging tourism and cultural and natural heritage in the cross-border region between Kosovo and North Macedonia. The city of Tetovo on the North Macedonian side of the border had similar problems to Prizren with a lack of overnight tourist stays. The Sharr Mountains range covers both Kosovo and North Macedonia so there was clearly great potential for working together. “This was a very good opportunity as we needed funds to implement our idea. But in order to apply for this call we had to find a partner from the other side of the border,” says Deni Hameli from the Sharri Mountaineers’ Association. Going through their contacts, the Association identified and partnered with the ALKA NGO from North Macedonia. Deni explains that ALKA turned out to be a perfect partner organisation as they already had experience with similar projects. “They brought a significant added value in the proposal writing process and during the implementation of the project,” says Deni. The proposal was approved and over the following two years, the partner organisations worked on the implementation of the project that is now close to finishing. A holistic approach The project took a holistic approach to increasing the attraction of the region as a tourist destination. The work included improvement of the infrastructure by mapping and signposting 21 new hiking routes covering a total of over 200 kilometres. The project also worked on increasing the capacities of households and tour guides to host visitors. Finally, the project developed videos, leaflets and a traditional and social media campaign to advertise the region as a tourist destination to national and international tourists alike.

“In addition, along most of the mountain trails, the visitors will be able also to see cultural heritage monuments. So here we have nature and culture combined: a perfect destination for mountain tourism.”

The EU-funded project titled ‘Backing Regional Tourism Potential’ was financed under the Cross-Border Cooperation Programme Kosovo*- North Macedonia under the European Union’s Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) programme. The project was implemented in partnership with ALKA and Balkania NGOs from North Macedonia and the Marimangat and Sharri Mountaineers’ Association NGOs from Kosovo. Jovan Bozinoski is a tour guide and a member of Ljuboten Mountaineering Club from Tetovo in North Macedonia. As almost all the new hiking routes pass restaurants and households that provide food and accommodation, Jovan believes that the project will have a considerable economic impact in bringing more customers to the region. “In addition, along most of the mountain trails, the visitors will be able also to see cultural heritage monuments. So here we have nature and culture combined: a perfect destination for mountain tourism,” Jovan says.