Project Summary:

The project aims to establish sustainable links for business acceleration and enable skills development for young women and men unemployed jobseekers in the Kosovo labour market, with both missions having a special focus on repatriated jobseekers.

Having a twofold approach, the project will target established Self Employment Programme (SEP) businesses and create additional growth and employment opportunities for repatriated jobseekers through a Business Expansion and Support Scheme (BESS). Over the course of 12 months, ALMP 3 will provide business acceleration services to successful repatriated SEP women and men beneficiaries, focusing on:

a) strengthening the knowledge base of national and local stakeholders in assisting repatriated persons in entrepreneurship; and

b) supporting rigorous learning about the effectiveness of comprehensive self-employment support to disadvantaged youth in view of facilitating an informed scaling-up.

Further, the project will offer integrated services which provide pathways for agile youth, equipped to navigate the future of jobs in a digital age via the Digital Skills Programme (DSP). As part of this support, Kosovo young women and men will be equipped with programming and ICT skills, providing forefront placement within the digital labour market in Kosovo.  

The project will contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in Kosovo, specifically: End poverty in all its forms everywhere (SDG1), Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all (SDG4), Promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all (SDG 8), and Gender Equality and Women’s empowerment (SDG5).

Expected Result:

150 repatriated persons gain market outreach and business expansion support through the Business Expansion Support Scheme (BESS)

The main project component is the implementation of the Business Expansion Support Scheme which supports the repatriated business owners through the provision of tools that enable the acceleration of business growth and job creation. In this case, the scheme is applied as an active labour market measure for expanding a business activity within the target group of repatriated SEP women and men beneficiaries. The programme will build on the support provided for qualified businesses by UNDP programme during 2018-2021 with: financial support for business expansion activities, sustainability in business activity, employment, monitoring, mentoring, and consultancy during a one-year period. The BESS is designed to support the expansion and sustainability of businesses that are currently supported through UNDP Self Employment Programme, and which demonstrate the capability of being successful in a competitive market and with potential for job-creation and business scale up.

50 young jobseekers  receive ICT upskilling and labour market integration services via the Digital Skills Programme

The ICT bootcamps implemented through the ALMP3 are intensive short-term programs designed to equip young women and men with employment-ready programming skills for entry-level tech positions. The bootcamps are organized using a combined traditional VTC programs methodology with the intense and experiential socioemotional and tech skills learning methodology.  

The proposed bootcamps are implemented based on the Ready-to-Work (RTW) model. This model follows a structured process with three main characteristic features: 1) intense rapid-skills training, 2) experiential learning approach, and 3) curricula based on industry’s demand. The bootcamps provide a mix of technical and practical skills directly connected to current industry demand, making them a potentially effective tool for the requirements of the increasingly digitalized economy. The proposed coding bootcamps tackle the apparent gaps in formal education systems by providing an accelerated path for motivated people to develop the coding skills that are in high demand today.

Overview