Competitiveness and employment

Financed by: World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development)

Budget: 100.000.000 $

Implementaion period: 7. 10. 2015 – 30. 6. 2021.

Implemented by: Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Policy, Republic Secretariat for Public Policies

Objective: Improvement of efficiency and coordination of selected public programs with the aim of removing restrictions on competitiveness and creating jobs, including investment and export promotion, innovation, active labor market measures, employment mediation and activation of social assistance beneficiaries.

The activities of the Competitiveness and Jobs Project were implemented through several components:

• Capacity building of the PPS aimed at developing and piloting a framework for planning and managing public policies at the interministerial level, as well as individual frameworks at the level of line ministries;
• Capacity building of the Ministry of Economy and the Development Agency of Serbia (DAS): activities included the design and implementation of sector strategies, action plans, a strategic framework for investment, and export promotion. In addition to institutional strengthening, efforts were also directed toward improving existing enterprise support programs and developing new ones;
• Strengthening the institutional capacities of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, including the Innovation Fund, as well as the establishment and development of the Science Fund;
• Capacity building of the National Employment Service (NES) to improve the provision of employment mediation services through the preparation and adoption of the NES Action Plan, and the design and piloting of a training voucher system. Through partnership with the project team, the NES developed the first National Employment Action Plan using a new methodology for profiling unemployment risk, a targeted professional development program for caseworkers, and recommendations on how to better design and implement specific active labour market measures.

Indikatori projekta i dodatni podaci pokazuju pozitivan uticaj projekta na sektor malih i srednjih preduzeća, kao i na privredu u celini. Programi grantova su bili put za otvaranje novih firmi koje su stvarale dodatne prihode i radna mesta. Podrška transferu tehnologija doprineli su većoj inovativnosti preduzeća. Vaučeri za inovacije dali su podsticaj inovacijama, jaču kulturu istraživanja i razvoja, poboljšanu ekonomiju zasnovanu na znanju i jačanje ekosistema inovacija i okruženja za istraživanje i razvoj.

Project indicators and additional data show the positive impact of the project on small and medium enterprises, as well as on the economy as a whole. Grant programs were a way to open new businesses that created additional income and jobs. Support for the transfer of technologies contributed to greater innovativeness of the companies. Innovation vouchers have provided an incentive for innovation, a stronger research and development culture, improved knowledge-based economy, and a strengthening of the innovation ecosystem and research and development environment.

More information about the project is available here.