The Education to Employment (E2E) project, representing a 12-year partnership project between the governments of Switzerland and Serbia, is entering its final phase, Phase III, which will run until 30th April 2028
Speaking in this interview, E2E Project Head Oliver Streit presents an overview of the upcoming activities and strategies that will drive Phase III forward, ensuring continued progress towards better employment opportunities and career paths for all.
Could you share with us the key goals and aspirations of Phase III of the E2E project?
— Phase III aims to create new or improved job opportunities for women, men, and vulnerable groups in Serbia.
We are focused on improving employment support services and implementing industry-led training programs to lift up the needed skills level for the companies’ demands. Our vision now is to provide decent job prospects and career paths for everyone in Serbia, not just for youth as we did in the previous period.
What have you achieved over the eight years of the project to date?
— Over the past eight years, the E2E project successfully introduced top-modern career guidance and counselling services through a network of nine Job Info Centres (JICs). These nine JICs reached 35,000 beneficiaries, who benefited directly. Furthermore, more than 2,700 unemployed young people received tailored work-based learning (WBL) opportunities with 205 companies, 80% of which was practical on-the-job learning within a company. The result was extremely surprising even for us, as more than 77% of participants gained their first job and decided to remain resident in their local communities and not, for instance, to leave the country in pursuit of better job opportunities abroad.
What is new for Phase III?
— We plan to enhance participants’ positions by improving employment support services, offering comprehensive career guidance and counselling (CGC) services, not only via JICs, but also through school partnerships, the national employment service (NES) and private employment agencies.
Could you explain the role of JICs in this phase?
— We established nine JICs across Serbia in Phase II. We are now planning to create the same opportunity for people in Belgrade and Novi Sad. These JICs in Phase III, co-financed and integrated into local communities, will serve as vital links between job seekers and the workforce needs of companies. The private sector will additionally contribute by offering practical, industry-led training solutions, which will be further enhanced through training advisory services and co-financed by local and national funds.
As you pointed out, in Phase III E2E will also offer some support at the national level. What strategies will be employed?
— At the national scale, we will engage an evidence-based, bottom-up feedback mechanism to ensure that relevant local innovations are mainstreamed, implemented and funded through national employment frameworks. This includes supporting amendments to the Law on Employment and improving the CGC legislative ecosystem. Our aim is to unlock funding and provide access to civil society organisations in order to enhance their participation in these initiatives.
What overall impact do you hope to achieve with Phase III?
— Our commitment is to drive innovations and embed products and services, and to thus create better employment opportunities for all. This new phase promises to make significant contributions to Serbia’s labour market, fostering an improved environment in which everyone can benefit from better job prospects and career paths, and in which strong local and national change agents offer their citizens improved services. We are really excited to continue these positive changes and to work with our partners, and we look forward to sharing more updates as we advance our mission and vision over the coming years.