EU - Beautiful Kosovo II

The project ‘Employment through the EU-Beautiful Kosovo programme’ (hereafter EU-BK II) builds upon the successful implementation of the first phase of the programme (EU-BK I) that was implemented during the period 2011 – 2013. The EU-BK II Programme is an EU funded project, managed by the European Union Office in Kosovo and implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in coordination with Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare during the period December 2013 – September 2016 with a total budget of 5.6 Million Euros.

The overall objective of the EU-BK II was to contribute to reduction of poverty through the enhancement of economic opportunities for Kosovo population, especially marginalized groups, such as: unskilled, semiskilled, and skilled beneficiaries who were long-term unemployed as well as beneficiaries included in the social assistance schemes with specific focus on women, persons with disabilities, youth and minority groups.

In order to achieve the overall objective of the EU-BK II Programme, the following two specific objectives were established, to: 1) Improve urban and social infrastructures in the selected municipalities according to identified municipal and regional priorities, and 2) educe number of long-term unemployed as well as to increase employability through work experience gained for selected beneficiaries.

Call of Project Proposals from the Municipalities

All Kosovo municipalities had the opportunity of taking part in Call for Proposals (CfPs) for Municipalities that was launched in December, 2013.  All 38 municipalities of Kosovo expressed their interest in the Programme by submitting an official letter of interest to participate in the competition and developed project proposals targeting environmental re-generation and social infrastructure, which confirmed the high importance of this type of actions seeking to reduce the high level of unemployment that still affects Kosovo's socio-economic development. As a result, EU-BK II received 91 project proposals submitted by 38 Municipalities and 29 projects were awarded with funding and were successfully implemented in 25 Kosovo Municipalities.

The total amount invested for the implementation of the selected 29 projects was more than 4,4 Mio. Euros, including around 600,000 Euros as voluntary municipal contribution.

Job creation and employment opportunities

Trough the implementation of the 29 projects 1,910 short term employments were created including for 1,437 persons (75%) registered as long-term unemployed at the respective Municipal Employment Office (MEO). Out of these 1,437 persons, 101 women, 240 from minority groups, 37 persons with disabilities, 379 youngsters and 680 others (men/adult) were employed.

For more information, please refer to the EU-Beautiful Kosovo II Catalogue (in EN, ALB, SRB),  which gathers general statistics of the programme as well as fact sheets of all 29 implemented projects.