IME: Increasing Market Employability

Improved access to decent, sustainable employment/self-employment for young women and men. 

Specific objectives:

1. Tourism and Hospitality and Green Economy enterprises (targeted sectors¹): grow these sectors by expanding the existing market and accessing new market opportunities.
2. Access to improved services - skills support functions, financial services: enhance for enterprises in the targeted sectors.
3. A more conducive policy and regulatory framework for private sector growth in targeted sectors. 

¹  _{IME worked in Creative industries sector (subsectors: Software & IT services and Product Design) from 1st April 2015 until 31st December 2017 and results from the work of IME in the Creative Industries are accounted for under all outcomes.}

Market system focus

Organic agriculture

There are 533 registered organic producers in the country cultivating organic products on 3,240 hectares. 

The sector is still in its infancy. It has limited, but slowly increasing, local demand for organic produce and there is limited buying power.

Lack of skills and resources means limited access to international markets.

There is no access to quality organic seeds and know-how on effective production techniques, equipment and finance.

Sustainable building

The sustainable building sector market is valued at 283,965,398 Euro per year. Its two main categories are new buildings and renovation of existing building stock.

Demand for quality buildings is low and only minimum energy efficiency standards are being met. Reasons for this include:

• a lack of qualified workers because of a lack of interest in training and the low quality of training
• low capacity for implementation of new requirements for energy performance of the buildings

Tourism and hospitality

It is estimated that this sector directly supports 8,500 direct jobs in the country, with 31,000 jobs indirectly being linked to the tourism industry.

The growth of the sector is hindered by:

• lack of collaboration between tourism stakeholders
• lack of skills amongst tourism workers
• lack of understanding of visitors’ motivations and decision-making processes
• seasonality of demand

Cross-cutting support market system functions

IME also puts emphases on the development of the two cross-cutting support market systems functions: 

• access to supporting services - skills & youth component
• gender mainstreaming in the targeted sectors 
• enabling environment for private sector growth through fostering PPD in targeted sectors
   

Programme interventions

Organic agriculture

1.Value chain development for domestic consumption of organic products by:

• support for distribution channels and traders to improve planned production of market demanded products
• addressing limited access of inputs, access to finance and, advisory services
• introducing modern production technology

2. Export promotion for organic products
Facilitate the export of organic products by helping identify local exporters and consultants.  These can then be linked to importers from the EU and Switzerland with the help of intermediaries.

3. Introduction and promotion of advisory (embedded) services for organic production. Capacity building of the organic advisors. Assisting the process of embedding the services in the input supplier products. 

4. Introduction of free organic agriculture classes in selected vocational education and training (VET) agricultural schools. Support for the association of VET agricultural schools to develop materials for growing and producing organic oregano, approved by the VET centre. This leads to increased knowledge and understanding of organic agriculture and the needs of the organic labour market.

Sustainable Building

1. Improving the cooperation of market development stakeholders in the sustainable building sector by encouraging the use of energy efficiency measures through:

• access to finance
• policy adaptation
• supporting public institutions

Tourism and Hospitality

1. Destination management processes for improving and diversifying products and services in Krusevo, Mavrovo and Ohrid:

• implement a destination management approach based on St Gallen Destination Management (SGDM) model
• establish a working group
• prioritise strategic visitors flows (SVF)
• support waste management assessment of the destination

2. Sustainable Tourism Development in destination Ohrid by using the SGDM model and introducing Global Sustainable Tourism Council standards through the Destination Management working group.

3. Access to domestic and international/regional markets for destination Mavrovo by:

• Supporting tourism stakeholders in Mavrovo to build their management capacity for designing tourism packages addressing the market needs. Ensuring linkages of Mavrovo supply partners with:
  1) sales agents/tour operators of adventure products that sell adventure tours to regional and international markets
  2) regional markets with sport and incentive products
  3) domestic market sales agents with products attractive for kids
• Extending the season - and making the destination more appealing - by improving:
  1) offers
  2) safety management
  3) waste management
• Supporting tourism stakeholders to adapt offers and wide a regional promotional campaign for regional markets

4. Improve tour guiding services and visibility of tour guides to travel agencies by developing:

• a digital registry/platform of guides
• guides' soft skills and foreign languages

5. Improving destination management to access international markets for adventure travel for destination Krushevo by:

• improving the paragliding offer and paragliding infrastructure - also complementing it with a diversified adventure and rural tourism offer
• developing a hotel training initiative - bringing training in line with Swiss standards using local certified training providers - to improve the qualifications of tourism industry employees

Cross-cutting components 

1. Supporting the implementation of  a Youth Guarantee scheme to increase youth employment by developing:

• a good employment offer
• a continued education
• an apprenticeship and traineeship 

2. Access to support services for women-owned/women-managed businesses in five sectors:

• identify female owned/managed businesses
• use associations or consultants to provide support, promotion and sustainability of female owned businesses

3. Job placement centre: improving the labour market information and intermediation services for highly educated IT professionals.

Notable results (systemic change, poverty impact)

Overarching IME programme focus market systems

• IME contributed to the creation of an additional 1,150 net jobsⁱ in the first three years (30 per cent women and 32 per cent youth). 488 of them are direct jobs (143 women, 158 youth) and 662 indirect. The total additional earning income generated from jobs created is CHF 2,258,760 (December 2017)
• CHF 3,348,775 of additional sales is generated by targeted enterprises, leading to CHF 73,180 net additional income increase.
• 10,404 beneficiaries were reached: individuals/students/ or unemployed; private businesses, public institutions and civil organisations (accesses outreachⁱⁱ). More than 2,700ⁱⁱⁱ of them used and/or applied the service and input directly to the market as a result of IME interventions^iv (usage outreach^v).
• In total 1,845 beneficiaries (1,410 individuals and/or 435 businesses) have benefited financially since the beginning of the programme (benefit outreach). 
• 1,638 (658 women, 1,368 youth) individuals have improved their skills in targeted sectors (measured in terms of people who have completed given course/training satisfactorily)
• Volume of additional funding facilitated is CHF 574,131
• Two public policy changes benefiting women and youth were adopted
• Four policy changes conducive for private sector growth in targeted sector were facilitated 

Organic Agriculture

• 4 per cent increase in consumer awareness for organic products (compared to 2015) 
• 16 per cent of serviced clients of organic products are serviced through distribution channels developed by IME
• A 6 per cent overall increase in volume of sales of organic products in 2016 compared to 2014

Sustainable Building 

•  IME fostered the use and implementation of energy efficiency audits and measures
•  Establishment of an association to lobby for increased energy efficiency measures by the government
•  ESCO models analysis submitted to central institutions that, once adopted, will provide impetus for sector development

Tourism and Hospitality

• Additional volume of sales CHF 1,092,747 for businesses in Mavrovo due to increased number of overnights (14,489 new overnights) for the last three winter seasons. The adapted offer and wide regional promotional campaign #VisitMavrovo targeting Kosovo and Albania source markets showed an increase of 54 per cent of tourists from Kosovo and Albania source markets in Mavrovo in comparison to 2016 season (2,101 new overnights from these markets which is a market share of 22 per cent of all Kosovo and Albanian overnights in Macedonia in January 2017) generating additional volume of sales of CHF 362,749. 
• Increased number of tourists - an additional 13 international tour operators are engaged with Macedonian travel agencies after Adventure NEXT Balkan Conference

NB Achieved results under cross-cutting components and previously focused market sector (IT & Software Development and Product Design) are incorporated in the overarching programme results.

ⁱ _{IME reports all jobs created as per attribution strategy (direct & Indirect). Some of the jobs are created at the end of the year but still are reported under this indicator. It is estimated that reported jobs will be FTE jobs (Full time equivalent) after the period of 240 working days, which will be monitored and validated at the end of the programme.}
ⁱⁱ _{As access outreach, one counts the total number of beneficiaries: students, enterprises, farms etc., who have access to a new/better service, input and/or market.}
ⁱⁱⁱ  _{Exact number will be provided in the annual report}
^iv  _{Due to double counting we cannot differentiate beneficiaries per year, because some of the stakeholders are benefiting each year but are counted only once}
^v  _{As usage outreach, one counts the number of beneficiaries who not only access the service, input or market but also use resp. apply it.}
 

[updated March 2018
Programme ended in spring 2019]