Regional Fund of Challenges, Gonxhja: Unique window only for Albania, worth 10 million euros

Representatives of governments, education authorities, businesses, chambers of commerce, vocational education providers, donors and projects and civil society of 6 Western Balkan countries were this week in Tirana to discuss best practices to promote employment, with a focus on the young people.

The Minister of Economy, Culture and Innovation Blendi Gonxhja hosted a representative meeting of the Regional Challenges Fund and KfW, following the Regional Conference organized in Tirana on the topic "Realizing Opportunities: Building Human Capital in the Western Balkans 6 for Integration into the EU Single Market".

He announced that during the meeting they discussed the common challenges of the countries of the region regarding the lack of labor force and the need to develop human capital.

"The Regional Challenges Fund has played an important role in this regard, financing the development of the capacities of public and private providers of Albanian vocational education. This program is a financing instrument designed to increase employability, with a focus on young people, as well as to strengthen the competitiveness of enterprises in the countries of the Western Balkans", he said.

With the initiative of the General Directorate of Employment, Training and Social Security Policies (MEKI - Ministry of Economy, Culture and Innovation) and in cooperation with the embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in our country, as well as with representatives of KfW and Swiss Cooperation for Development, Gonxhja informed that a "Unique Window" has been created only for Albania, with a value of 10 million euros.

According to him, in the third call, 10 winning Albanian consortia were announced, of which 7 public institutions of education and professional training, which benefit from the fund of almost 5.4 million euros.

Through these projects and funding, vocational schools and public vocational training centers meet part of their needs that are related to infrastructure, equipment/laboratories or training of management and teaching staff, paving the way for the development of education and cooperation with the sector private and increasing employment opportunities according to higher qualification standards.