PPSE: Promoting Private Sector Employment

Assist small and medium sized businesses operating in competitive and well-organised economic sectors, where public policies better match private sector needs, to provide increased sustainable employment for women and men. 

Market systems and interventions

Food processing

Interventions include:

• Introduce industrial varieties of tomatoes and peppers to fulfill the raw material demand, triggering the use of collection centres for aggregation services
• Introduce export channels for small scale processors, who previously did not have access to larger markets
• A national campaign to improve the placement of locally produced products in domestic retail chains
• Participate in international trade fairs to support export promotion 

Tourism

Interventions include:

• Initiated the establishment of a destination management organisation, which serves as a coordinating, promotion, and lobbying unit for tourism
• Promote online booking for tourism accomodations and supported the provision of quality information on tourism attractions
• Tourism product development and commercialisation of tourism products and tours, for enriching the 'things to do' packages in the western Kosovo region, mainly targeting domestic visitors
• In partnership with local tour operators developed, promoted, and offered hiking and adventure tourism tours tailored for international niche markets. Promotion of the destination of Kosovo has also been organised through the first international tour operator familiarisation trip, and participation in international fairs.  

Property rights

Interventions include:

• Supported women startups and addressed their needs regarding property rights by providing extra advisory services
• Subsequently, started a door to door campaign on property rights.

Private sector development governance

Interventions include:

• New services and training aimed at improving firm's internal organisation and businesses corporate governance 
• Initiated a bottom-up approach through the so-called Nucleus Groups, by organising small and medium businesses to collectively address internal business bottlenecks as well as enable collective organisation.

In women’s economic empowerment, advocacy, networking and promotion service providers are enabled to deliver campaigns to change actors’ perspective on women’s economic roles. For example we launched a hashtag #youcantoo campaign on social media by providing video examples of role models).  

Results

• PPSE has reached approximately 300 micro, small, and medium sized enterprises, resulting in the creation of 137 full time equivalent jobs, with a net additional income of over CHF 160,000
• 30% of the targeted beneficiaries are women (to be confirmed in the upcoming 2016 semester report).

Updated June 2016.