On December 22, 2015, civil society organizations and local institutions during a joint meeting in Pristina discussed the factors affecting youth employment.
Kosovar organization Lens informed the participants about their analysis of factors affecting youth employment in the country, with particular emphasis on the impact of social networks in the recruitment process. This activity was developed within the framework of the project for advocating better youth employment policies, which is part of a regional initiative through which the organizations involved are aiming at comprehensive employment policies, the same being developed throughout the region Balkans.
The participants at the meeting, including officials from the Ministry of Youth, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, as well as representatives of businesses and non-governmental organizations, discussed about the few opportunities offered to young people in today’s labor market.
All the participants raised their concerns about high unemployment rates among young people as a result of Kosovo’s low economic development. They also discussed about the initiatives of the Government and non-governmental organizations to address the problem of youth unemployment, as well as the emphasized need for co-ordination and involvement of businesses in solving the problem. The participants also stressed the need for promotion of schools and vocational trainings as well as the need to expand these services.
Also during this meeting, Lens presented the YOU SEE video campaign that has already started running in social media. The campaign aims to showcase in forms of video-messages some of the problems with employment of young people in Kosovo which have been identified during the implementation of the project. According to Lens, these problems are very similar and are therefore encouraging young people to share their experiences by joining the campaign and sending comments or video messages showing their challenges in accessing the job market. Among the problems that young people talked about are the lack of opportunities to gain experience and professional practice, low salaries that do not cover expenses, and inequality in job vacancies. All campaign videos are published here and we invite you to follow them on Facebook and twitter through the #yousee hashtag.
This project that is already closing its first year of activities is supported by the European Commission and by Friedrich Ebert Shtiftung in Pristina. It is implemented by a network of organizations from Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina and is coordinated by ADP ZID (from Montenegro).
More about the project can be found here. The project will continue to advocate for better and more comprehensive youth employment policies.