Vision: Employed, Empowered is an innovative idea that combines labour market research with a practical project to tackle the issues of unemployment among the most vulnerable members of society in Serbia. ‘Employed, Empowered’ will work towards integration of more people into the labour force, based on their own abilities and ideas, but equipped with a set of the most common transferable skills needed for modern societies. 

The aim of “Employed, Empowered” is to develop innovative ideas and highlight possible potentials in Serbia, rather than listing weaknesses. 

Objectives:

Overall objectives are:

• to develop solutions for refugees, IDPs, returnees and especially vulnerable groups in Serbia, facilitating their reintegration into society with a sustainable legal existence;
• to build up a network of local and international actors to support feasible reintegration models and advocacy for past or future migrants;
• to provide information and consultation to refugees, IDPs, returnees and especially vulnerable groups and to support local communities with expert advice and training activities.

Specific objective: The specific objective of the project is to support the durable reintegration of refugees, IDPs and returnees into society by researching solutions enabling them to build up sustainable livelihoods for themselves

Target Group:

224,000 IDPs from Kosovo, 150,000 refugees, and an approximate number of 23,000 asylum seekers in EU countries per year as well as especially vulnerable persons in Serbia. (source: UNHCR)

Methodology:

• to frame a very clear picture of the factors in Serbia determining access to sustainable income
• to obtain an exact profile of the target group, their professional skills, future expectations and fears;
• and combine both into a gap analysis, giving a concrete idea of useful training and support measures, which will also be of use to the whole donor community  

Activities:

• Survey of the target group and research on the economic factors and the labour market in Serbia
• Organisation of 3 high profile round tables to develop model solutions, based on the research results;
• Help-desks in seven cities providing active field support; (Belgrade, Novi Sad, Sid, Vrsac, Subotica, Nis, Kraljevo, Kragujevac, Valjevo)
• Development of training materials, translating all the acquired knowledge into a practical tool 
• Capacity building activities with the training materials, workshops and active support.

Estimated results:

• a source of pertinent information for the target group concerning their options for the future, including legal advice, training materials and capacity building;
• a set of model solutions to build up sustainable economic livelihoods and the creation of a social network to support reintegration;
• a strategy paper containing all research results.

Partners:

Partner 1: the Center for Peace and Democracy Development in Belgrade was founded in July 1991 and formed the nucleus of the peace movement. Now, the long-term goals of the CPDD are amongst others the development of democratic institutions, a legal state and a civil society, as well as the study of human rights and humanitarian law. The CPDD will be responsible for the socioeconomic research on Serbia and for facilitating the round tables.

Partner 2: the Novi Sad Humanitarian Center was founded in 1998. NSHC's mission is to provide emergency aid in times of crisis to people in need, and to promote the development of local communities and the region of Vojvodina. NSHC's focuses on the most vulnerable and marginalised groups of the population: refugees, IDPs, the elderly, Roma, the homeless, those deprived of their rights and the poor. The NSHC will be responsible for the “Target Group Survey” and for running the help desks.

Finance:

The EC award under the Aeneas Programme for the project amounts to 80% of the total required for the full roll-out of ‘Employed, Empowered’.  The EC Grant amounts to 559.867 EUR. For the Full budget of 699.834 EUR match funding of 139.967 EUR is needed.