PLANS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF MUCICIPALITIES

30. November 2011.

Eight towns and municipalities of the Pcinj and Jablanica districts are going to participate in the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Economic Security Program. Their cooperation in developing youth entrepreneurship in South Serbia or in providing the conditions for a faster employment of young people was formalized by the signing of the agreement in Vranje. Suzanne Keaton, Head of the USAID’s Economic Development Program in Serbia, said that the said program would strongly support the young form that part of Serbia to solve their greatest problem, which is unemployment. Over 30 per cent of the young in Serbia is interested in entrepreneurship. The USAID shall work directly with young entrepreneurs from South Serbia and shall help them implement their business plans. The USAID shall also help towns and municipalities to strategically solve the problems with the unemployed youth by applying youth entrepreneurship activity plans, which had been made to the needs of those local self-governments.

Apart from representatives of Vranje, the agreement with the USAID was signed by representatives of Vladicin Han, Trgoviste, Presevo and Bujanovac from the Pcinj district, as well as by representatives of Leskovac, Bojnik and Vlasotince from the Jablanica district. Anyway, over 12 thousand young people in Serbia have participated in the USAID’s Economic Security Programs since 2007. Over twenty municipalities in Serbia have adopted activity plans for developing youth entrepreneurship so far. Thanks to those plans over six thousand young people acquired the basic entrepreneur skills. Around one thousand young people were trained for successful entrepreneur careers, and they also learned how to start a business or how to improve a company that already exists.