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Author: WeBalkans

Bringing the local and EU perspectives closer for better integration

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in Stories.

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.

New career aspirations created in Konstanz, Germany

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A Serbian political science student experienced new way of learning during his Master’s studies in Germany with support of Erasmus+ Goran Trailov believes that corruption is one of the important challenges that Serbia needs to overcome. That is why he chose to study political science and later chose the rule of law and corruption as the subject of his Master’s thesis. “It is a matter that needs urgent attention and I have been writing about it since my early undergraduate days. This is an important problem across the Western Balkans,” he says. Goran finished his Master’s studies at the University of Konstanz in Germany where his thesis was about the rule of law in the Western Balkans in the context of the theory of Europeanisation. He selected Serbia and Montenegro as case study countries and corruption as a specific topic of study. One of the conclusions of his thesis is that indeed there is hope for a better future for Serbia in this regard. Goran explains that the number of corruption-related cases in courts is increasing but there is still a lot of work to be done in reaching the EU standard. “Imagine having 1,000 people from all around the world in a small town where you have a chance to meet them. There is no way you could have a chance to taste cultural richness like this in big cities like Berlin. It was fascinating.” An opportunity almost lost After Goran finished his Bachelor studies he enrolled for Master’s-level studies at the University of Belgrade. At the end of the first year, he decided to continue his Master’s studies abroad with the support of the European Union’s ERASMUS + programme. He had heard about ERASMUS + back in his undergraduate days but back then he had been late to apply and did not make it. “At the end of the first year of my Master’s studies, I was advised to apply by an assistant teacher who is also the ERASMUS + Coordinator at my university,” says Goran. Goran was accepted to study at the University of Konstanz in Germany. “At first I was scared. I had lived all my life in Belgrade, and for the first time I was moving to a totally new environment: a small town in Germany,” says Goran. But his fears disappeared as soon as he arrived there. Konstanz is a historical university town with approximately 80,000 inhabitants and beautiful scenery, on the banks of Lake Constance. The town hosts 10,000 students of whom 1,000 are international. This is one of the qualities that initially impressed Goran. “Imagine having 1,000 people from all around the world in a small town where you have a chance to meet them. There is no way you could have a chance to taste cultural richness like this in big cities like Berlin. It was fascinating,” says Goran.

“Professors at Konstanz listened more to what we wanted to say, and they were open to learning from the students.”

Aiming for EU integration Now that he’s graduated, Goran plans to apply for traineeship at the EU institutions in Brussels. Following that he is aiming for a job at the Ministry of EU integration or another EU-related organisation in Serbia because he wants to work on the EU integration of his country. He explains that there is a need for more professionally educated politicians in the Western Balkans and elsewhere. “Nowadays, what you study is what you end up doing. Back in the day, one could study physics and become a chancellor of Germany. I don’t think that it will go that way anymore,” he says.     Goran was also impressed with the quality of education. One thing that made an impression on him was the variety of classes that he could choose to attend. As he explains, some classes repeat for years, but most of them change and there is always a new catalogue at the beginning of the semester from which students can choose. “This was very cool. With the new classes, we had a chance to keep up-to-date with what is happening in the world. So I don’t want to say more sophisticated, but that should be the word to compare Konstanz University with my university in Belgrade,” says Goran. Another quality that Goran highlights is the approach of the professors and the interactivity of lectures. “Professors at Konstanz listened more to what we wanted to say, and they were open to learning from the students. This is not the case with many professors at the University of Belgrade.” He also appreciates that on a number of occasions the professor went off-syllabus and introduced guests from EU institutions to share their experiences. “I remember that once we had the head of an EU agency operation in Africa. He explained to us how the team worked there and talked about the challenges and how they overcome them. That was fun,” he says.

Bringing the magic of animated film to a town in Kosovo

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Eleven years ago, five teenagers from Kosovo launched an animated film festival. Today ANIBAR is one of the leading festivals of its kind in Europe In 2005, five teenage fans of animated film were looking for ways to learn animation. They were living in the town of Peja/Peć in Kosovo and at the time there was no animation school anywhere in Kosovo, and they did not have the resources to travel abroad to learn. So they decided to bring the opportunity to learn animation to their town. As soon as they turned 18, they registered an NGO and began work on launching what would become one of the best-known animation film festivals in Europe — ANIBAR. “Normally festivals develop the other way around,” says Arba Hatashi, the current director of the festival. “First there is an animation school where people learn how to make animated films, and later they launch a festival so they can screen them. We did the opposite: we launched the festival so we could bring films and international mentors to Peja and learn how to make animated movies.” After 11 years, education is still an important aspect of the festival. In the beginning, the festival founders and other young people benefitted from the master classes and workshops provided by the trainers who visited Peja during the festival week. In 2016, they launched the Animation Academy in Peja and Pristina in the form of an ongoing animation course throughout the year. “Teaching younger generations the craft of animation was the original idea of the festival. This remains our most important mission.” The Academy is now teaching the fourth generation of students, while many of the young people from past generations are working in the animation film sector in Kosovo and four of them are studying in EU countries. The Academy is financed through the festival and by supporters of the organisation. “Teaching younger generations the craft of animation was the original idea of the festival. This remains our most important mission,” says Arba. Going from strength to strength The ANIBAR festival has screened hundreds of short films and hosted iconic animation professionals such as Koji Yamamura and others from globally renowned animation productions including The Simpsons, BoJack Horseman and Rick and Morty.

“Last year, we screened around 300 short animated movies and had a number of workshops and masterclasses. The festival is now an indispensable event for the youth and economy of the town.”

Personal and professional development Arba joined the festival as a volunteer back in 2013 when she was only 14 years old. Since then, she learned many skills and grown as a person as part of ANIBAR. “When I joined the festival, I didn’t even know how to write an email. Being part of ANIBAR contributed a lot to my personal and professional development,” she says. Last year she was appointed as the Festival Director, becoming one of the youngest festival directors in Europe. She says she knows she will remain part of the festival in one way or another for years to come. “You might think that we would lose our initial passion for the festival,” says Arba. “But honestly, every day that we work on the festival we are fascinated and find the passion of the first day all over again as the festival continuously feeds us with energy and love.”   ANIBAR has contributed to Peja’s economy as well. Last year 11,000 people visited the city during the festival week. This is an important figure for a town of 49, 000 inhabitants. “Last year, we screened around 300 short animated movies and had a number of workshops and masterclasses. The festival is now an indispensable event for the youth and the economy of the town,” says Arba. This impact could not have been achieved without the help of donors, and the European Union has been one of the main supporters of the Festival throughout the years. Alba explains that even at the start of the festival staff benefitted from training through various activities related to Erasmus+. Direct support from the EU began in 2014 and has not stopped since. “This support is very welcome as the festival involves huge expenditure such as the travel and accommodation costs of national and international visitors, as well as screening costs,” says Arba. She hopes that the EU will continue to support the festival in the future as it is an investment in the economy, art and youth.

New homes for 40 refugee families

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Forty refugee families displaced from the territory of the former Yugoslavia and living in Kruševac in central Serbia were given keys to their new homes on Tuesday during an event attended by the Head of the European Union Delegation, Sem Fabrizi, the Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ivica Dačić, Commissioner for Refugees and Migration, Vladimir Cucić, delegates of the UNHCR, and Kruševac town officials.

 

Ambassador Fabrizi thanked the members of refugee families for their patience, saying that he hoped their new homes would make them finally feel safe. “This is a wonderful expression of solidarity by the EU and its citizens towards nations of the Western Balkans. The outcome of this essential project shows that we have succeeded and that we are still succeeding in doing a great job,” he said.

 

The apartments were built under the Regional Housing Programme (RHP). The programme was established to provide permanent housing solutions to vulnerable refugees and displaced persons following the 1991-1995 conflict in the former Yugoslavia. The RHP conducts its activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. The European Union is the project’s main donor.

 

Speaking about the programme’s achievements, Fabrizi highlighted the figure of 5,150 families whose housing issue has been permanently resolved, whether through the construction of new apartment units, or adaptation or purchase of existing housing units. The goal of the programme is to provide housing solutions for 7,600 refugee and displaced families.

“The lives of creatures on our planet are interconnected”

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A veterinary student from Tirana gains new knowledge, skills and ambitions – and a cat – by participating in the ERASMUS+ programme Armela Lato is a final year student at the veterinary faculty in Tirana. She initially wanted to study medicine but her exam score was not good enough for the Faculty of Medicine. Armela was not a great animal lover but decided to attend the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine as it was closer to what she had originally wanted to study. “At the time this was a provisional solution for me. I was planning to apply again for medicine the next year,” says Armela. However, during the first few months at the faculty she changed her mind and began to consider the work of a vet as a lifetime profession. The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Tirana had good professors, and this is one of the reasons why Armela was happy with it. “The professors supported us in every way and they were friendly,” she says. They also gave her a new vision for her work – she remembers one of her professors saying that, “if you help animals you help humanity, because the lives of creatures on our planet are interconnected”. However, the faculty had limited resources both in terms of equipment and the number of patients coming to the faculty clinic. Armela’s theoretical knowledge was improving but she needed to improve her practical skills. “Give an animal a little care and it will be grateful forever.” Finding the practical skills Ever since high school, Armela had wanted to study abroad. One of the reasons for this was a better chance of employment. “Finding a job in Albania is not an easy thing. But If I graduated abroad, I could have an internationally recognised diploma and a better chance to find a job abroad,” she explains. With this in mind she began to look for opportunities for scholarships to study outside Albania. In her third year of studies, she saw an opportunity from the Erasmus+ student exchange programme published on the faculty portal. She had three options: Bologna, Milan and Zagreb. With visions of the opportunities she’d be able to explore in Croatia and Italy, she applied for all three. “I was accepted in both Milan and Zagreb, but I chose Zagreb, as my professors said that they thought that the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine there was better equipped, and has a longer tradition,” says Armela. Zagreb adventures She began her experience at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Zagreb in the second semester of her third year of studies, and stayed there for six months. Telling the story of her stay she says wide-eyed, “It was very different there: much better.” The faculty clinic was better equipped than the one in Albania. Apart from surgery equipment they also had advanced diagnostic equipment such as echography and radiography that were not available at the faculty in Tirana. “We also had a much larger number of patients coming to the faculty clinic, and the equipment was available to use whenever we wanted. This was amazing.”

“We had a much larger number of patients coming to the faculty clinic, and the equipment was available to use whenever we wanted. This was amazing.”

Studying veterinary science changed one other thing in her life. Although she had never hated animals, she says she just did not have any affection for them. In particular she had a strange dislike of cats. ‘I don’t know why but I simply could not look at or touch cats. But now I have a cat of my own,’ she smiles. ‘Give an animal a little care and it will be grateful forever,’ says Armela. Armela also had difficult experiences during her stay in Zagreb. At the clinic they had patients with serious uncurable illnesses whose owners chose euthanasia in order to relieve them from pain. This was one of her encounters with the distressing side of the profession. She learned the hard way that not every patient can be saved. Throughout her stay Armela had the chance to learn new things. For example, she learned about a blood disease that she had never heard of before and whose diagnosis depended on measuring the size of the bones and skull, as one of the symptoms of this disease was the shortening of these parts of the body. “It was fascinating how they diagnosed the disease step by step and compared the symptoms with two or three other possible diseases before coming to their conclusion,” she says. Future plans After all she learned in Zagreb, Armela is now even more committed to continuing her career as a vet and to excelling in the profession. Once she’s graduated she’s aiming to study dermatology or physiotherapy at postgraduate level, preferably at a university abroad, and then to come back to Albania and try to set up her own clinic, or work in a state veterinary institution.  

“Starting the journey with Erasmus+ was my best investment”

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From the war and economic crisis of a childhood in Yugoslavia to working and studying for a peaceful, prosperous EU future Bojana Zimonjić (30), from Serbia, first learned about the European Union in citizenship education class in high school. She had heard about it before from the news but says she didn’t really know what the EU was all about. However, even as a child, some of the most important things for Bojana were peace and prosperity. As with most children born in Yugoslavia, the war and economic crisis had an impact on Bojana’s childhood. In her high school class, she learned that the core values of the EU aim to prevent these two problems through promoting peace and economic prosperity for everyone. “I found this idea amazing, and I fell in love with the EU and the idea behind it,” she says. Bojana further explains that even in high school she understood that to promote these values, one had to engage actively. Consequently, she chose to study Political Science at university.  

“My whole professional life and future aspirations are about the EU, and starting the journey with the ERASMUS+ programme was the best investment in my life.”

New opportunities with ERASMUS Bojana believed that the values that she was attached to could be best promoted through the promotion of EU integration. When the time for her Master’s studies came she began to look for opportunities to learn more about the European Union. It was announced at Bojana’s university that Serbia had just been included in the ERASMUS programme. As soon as she learned this, she decided to apply for the educational opportunities provided by the programme. Initially she was given an opportunity to benefit from the Jean Monnet programme which is part of ERASMUS+. It is dedicated to promoting excellence in EU studies in higher education around the world to build bridges between academics, researchers and EU policymakers. Bojana says that being part of Jean Monnet contributed considerably to the quality of her Master’s degree. “For example, lecturers from the EU came to teach us their vision of European integration. We also got textbooks for free. That is no small thing for unemployed students,” she says. Expanding horizons However, this was not enough for Bojana. She wanted to learn more about EU policies and EU integration, and she wanted to expand her cultural perspective; preferably at the university of an EU country. She chose to apply for an ERASMUS+ exchange at the University of Konstanz in Germany, and she was accepted. “It was like a dream come true,” she says.

“I had a class about leadership, which was really interesting. It was different from anything I could learn at my home university. This class really offered a different perspective on how a real leader should behave.”

In the future, she plans to get more involved in the EU administration to support the idea behind the European Union. “My whole professional life and future aspirations are about the EU, and starting the journey with the ERASMUS+ programme was the best investment in my life,” she says. Bojana describes her experience in Germany as “life changing”. She explains that for her it was essential to learn more about different cultures and to experience first-hand what it is like to live and study in a multicultural environment. Being surrounded by people from other countries in Europe – and the world – helped a lot in this. For Bojana, it was also important to see how universities function in Germany and how they present curricula. “For example, I had a class about leadership, which was really interesting. It was different from anything I could learn at my home university. This class really offered a different perspective for me on how a real leader should behave,” she says. Bojana was also impressed by the welcome at the university and in particular, with the structure and individual care for every international student enrolled. Promoting the spirit of reconciliation Bojana currently works for the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) that promotes the spirit of reconciliation and cooperation between youth in the Western Balkans region. “My ERASMSUS+ experience really helped me adapt quickly to RYCO’s multicultural work environment,” she said. “It shouldn’t be hard to guess after you’ve had the chance to hear my story, that RYCO was established with the support of the European Commission.”

Living the dream: showcasing fashion on the big stage

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A young fashion designer represents Fashion Weekend Skopje at the Berlin Fashion week with the support of an EU-funded programme Sofija Urumović, 28, is a young but successful fashion designer. Her interest in fashion started early. “As a child, my dream was to be omnilingual, which means having the ability to speak, or to understand, all languages. It goes without saying that this is impossible; however, over the years I have realised that fashion is one of the most powerful and universal languages in the world and that it could be used as a great means of self-expression and communication,” she says. As a result, when Sofija turned 18, she decided to study fashion and went on to finish both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. Her early experience with fashion was solely from magazines, so she thought of fashion as a fairy tale. However, she says that fashion is not an easy craft and later she encountered many challenges. Most significant of these was the need for more financial resources and a network of associates to present her work to a broader audience. The latter was addressed with the support of an EU-funded project. “Over the years I have realised that fashion is one of the most powerful and universal languages in the world and that it could be used as a great means of self-expression and communication.” The world of fashion opens Through an open call, Sofija was chosen by United Fashion project partner, Fashion Weekend Skopje, to represent the Balkan region. Sofija has only positive words for the project, saying that the whole experience has been “amazing”. As part of the project, she – like young fashion designers from other countries – was provided with an opportunity to showcase her work during the Berlin Fashion Week in 2018 and ModaLisboa in 2020. Making connections “In Berlin, I met this great agent for the German market who gave me very valuable advice from a business perspective, while in Lisbon I was able to witness a smaller team organising a big fashion event and offering a big platform for young creatives,” she says. Showcasing her work on a platform like the Berlin Fashion Week is an experience she describes as the dream of every young fashion designer, but Sofija also had other benefits from the project. She says perhaps the most important one is making new connections, and meeting people with whom she says she is “regularly in touch for friendship but also future professional cooperation”.

“I think what this whole pandemic has taught us is that what we are doing in general to the planet we live on is really irresponsible and so shameful. We should change the way we function.”

United Fashion is carried out by a cluster of European fashion support associations: the Baltic Fashion Federation (Latvia), Fashion Council Germany, Fashion Weekend Skopje (North Macedonia), Flanders DC (Belgium), MAD Brussels (Belgium), Maison de Mode (France), and ModaLisboa (Portugal). The aim of the project is to enhance fashion designer culture across Europe so that it is more business-oriented, enhancing competitiveness internationally without limiting creativity. The United Fashion project is supported through Creative Europe programme of the European Union. Right now, Sofija is developing some new ideas, but she wants to keep her brand small and grow steadily. “I think what this whole pandemic has taught us is that what we are doing in general to the planet we live on is really irresponsible and so shameful. We should change the way we function. In particular, the fashion industry has so many flaws. Now the situation has forced everyone, even the big players, who are the game-changers of the industry, to rethink the way we work and to set new foundations for a new fashion system,” she says. Through several international network events and trans-disciplinary training workshops, more than 150 fashion designers had the opportunity to benefit from the United Fashion project by showcasing their collections, getting to know and understand several European markets, and developing new skills in fashion tech, sustainable fashion, production, craftsmanship and business models.

Growing across borders with new management skills

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A successful young Albanian entrepreneur gains access to the international market with support of an EU-funded programme If she had followed her parents’ advice, Edona would be an engineer now. Both of her parents were science graduates and their wish was for their daughter to follow the same path. But she picked a different profession. She describes beginning to fill out the application form for the Engineering faculty. “I knew that this was a big decision that would probably impact the rest of my life. I had this feeling that I should not proceed with filling in the form, and I stopped,” she says. She walked out and went to the Economics faculty, where she filled in the application form for business administration. This might have seemed like a sudden decision, but it wasn’t. For some time Edona had had a hidden passion to become a business manager. Ten years later, her decision has been vindicated. Becoming a successful manager Her enrolment at the Economics faculty was the beginning of a successful career. A few years after enrolling, she became an assistant professor and was later promoted to the position of Professor. At the same time, she began work in a consultancy firm where she was soon promoted to managing partner. “Our market was limited to Albania and Kosovo, and I was interested in exploring other markets as our staff, mainly female, is competent and ready to handle more work” The company provides advice to businesses on the implementation of ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standards and on developing project proposals for local and international donor grant schemes. They provide services to around 200 businesses annually and the company is growing. “However, our market was limited to Albania and Kosovo, and I was interested in exploring other markets as our staff, mainly female, is competent and ready to handle more work,” she says. Access to international markets, in particular in a consultancy business, is a challenging endeavour. This is even more the case in a country such as Albania, still facing many economic challenges. Edona needed help. A friend advised her to seek support the Entrepreneurial Network of Growth Initiatives (ENGI4NE-2). This EU-funded project provided young entrepreneurs with an opportunity to spend time with an experienced entrepreneur abroad to learn new skills in business management. Improving skills with new technology Initially, Edona was not sure if she should participate, as she thought it might take too much of the time she needed for the management of her company. Eventually, she was convinced, and once again she made a decision to apply for something she does not regret. She choose a host company in Austria as she was already doing her PhD there. “But I was interested in a smaller company like ours and not more prominent corporations such as Deloitte or similar big international companies. In a smaller company, the challenges would be similar to our challenges, and I was interested to see how they tackled them,” she explains.

“It was an experience that opened my eyes and made me understand how fast things are developing in our sector. In particular, I learned about improving communication using technology.”

The project was supported by Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, which is an EU-funded cross-border exchange programme giving new or aspiring entrepreneurs the chance to learn from experienced entrepreneurs running small businesses in other participating countries. The host benefits from fresh perspectives and opportunities to build links with foreign partners and learn about new markets. Albania takes part in the programme, along with other countries in the Western Balkans. She says that she learned a lot from her stay, which spanned seven months. “It was an experience that opened my eyes and made me understand how fast things are developing in our sector. In particular, I learned about improving communication using technology,” she says. Edona explains that up until then she had communicated with her clients as well as inside her team with more traditional methods. Thanks to the experience in Austria she introduced applications such as Slack for internal communication, and Google Drive for communication with her clients. As a result, her company is now much more efficient in functioning remotely, which has turned out to be particularly useful in the new environment imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, the primary purpose of her participation in the project was to explore and learn how to access international markets. Edona was successful in this regard too, as during her stay she was able to sign an Austrian company as a client. Growing entrepreneurs Alongside Edona, another 126 entrepreneurs (75 new and 51 established) benefitted from this project in successful relationship exchanges. The implementing consortium of the project is geographically mixed, ensuring full coverage of destinations that are attractive to new entrepreneurs, including Albania and Turkey. The lead partner was Confindustria Ancona (CA) in Italy, with the Tirana Regional Development Agency the partner in Albania.