Viti/Vitina, is a multicultural town, a place of sparkling water, and a home to many. However, in 2014, Liridon Januzi decided to leave his hometown and seek better opportunities abroad, only to be returned to Kosovo after a short period of time. It has been two years now since Liridon, together with his wife and his two children, was repatriated from Germany. These past two years have been quite challenging for him in terms of reintegration and finding a new job to provide for his family.

“It was very difficult to start everything from the beginning after me and my family returned to Kosovo, especially to find employment. At last, I have a job and, most importantly, in the field to which I dedicated many years”, says the 28 years old Januzi who holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture and will soon graduate at Masters level. For quite some time, he tried to find a job in line with his education and his efforts finally paid off. On 1 September 2020 he started a new job at the Company B.I.-N.SH.''Geo-Map'' in Viti/Vitina, a business dealing with engineering and technical consulting, where he is employed as an architect.

Januzi is one of the new beneficiaries of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kosovo and the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MLSW)-Kosovo Employment Agency (KEA) Wage Subsidy Programme announced to support repatriated unemployed jobseekers in Kosovo.

UNDP, in cooperation with MLSW-KEA, through the Active Labour Market Programmes (ALMP 2), announced at the beginning of August 2020 the Wage Subsidy Programme, the Self Employment Programme, and On the Job Training Programme for repatriated unemployed jobseekers in Kosovo aiming to supporting them towards the labour market.

The increased level of assistance comes at the time of battling COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating effects in the local economy as an effort to create more employment opportunities for jobseekers.

“In addition to his academic commitment to architecture, Januzi wanted to have a sustainable job at the same field too. Finally, his efforts paid off on 1st September 2020 when he started a new job at the Company B.I.-N.SH.''Geo-Map'' in Viti/Vitina, a business dealing with engineering and technical consulting, where he is employed as an architect.”