Sector Reform Contract for Employment and Skills
Project Value
30,000,000.00 €
Project Status
Finished
Municipality
Implementing Partners
- Ministry of Finance and Economy and related agencies
- Ministry of Health and Social Protection
30,000,000.00 €
September 2016 - September 2019
Overall Objective
This programme aims to enhance the quality, coverage and effectiveness of employment and skills development policies in Albania through the support for the implementation of the National Strategy for Employment and Skills (NESS) and the modernisation of the related institutions. This will result in the increase of labour force participation and employment, with a specific focus on vulnerable groups both in the urban and rural areas.
The budget support methodology reflects the overall logic to reward the efforts of Albania to achieve the following objectives:
- increase labour market participation and provide job opportunities for all
- improve quality and increase coverage of vocational education and training
- improve the quality and effectiveness of labour market institutions and services
Summary of the Project
Activities
- Design of adequate Active Labor Market Policies targeting women and youth; registration, profiling and gender-sensitive counselling of jobseekers
- Outreach of labour market measures to excluded and vulnerable groups; promotion of employment opportunities to marginalised and disadvantaged persons; creation of conditions for fostering employment in the third sector (social business)
- Definition of a new policy for the recruitment and professional development of VET teachers and instructors; assessment of the competences of teachers in public VET institutions; organisation and delivering of training for all VET teachers and trainers (in-service training programme), including obligatory training on gender equality and social inclusion/diversity issues
- Increase of VET offer (including VET infrastructure) and outreach to vulnerable people; training and employment of marginalised and disadvantaged persons; analysis and upgrading of buildings, workshops and equipment available in VET providers; awareness-raising campaigns about the importance of, and opportunities in VET and lifelong learning
- Regular update of labour market analysis
- Support to monitoring of the policy framework implementation
- Establishment and implementation of sector skills committees; revision and linking of curricula to the AQF; development of occupational and qualification standards; adaptation of the curricula to specific requirements of people with disabilities; selecting bodies and putting in place procedures for the validation/recognition of prior learning at the system level; revision of the AQF legal framework; development of quality assurance mechanisms
- Re-organisation of local employment offices according to the New Service Model; regulation and accreditation system of private employment agencies and strengthening of the cooperation with the public employment services; training to National Employment System (NES) staff; development of quality assurance and performance management systems for NES
- Adoption and update of the relevant legislation in line with relevant EU acquis
- Consolidation and reinforcement of an administration unit for managing, monitoring and coordinating the implementation of NESS within the Ministry of Finance and Economy and related line ministries in charge of its implementation
Expected Results
- Employment of women, youth, and vulnerable and marginalised people is increased
- The competences of Vocational Education and Training (VET) teachers and teacher trainers are improved
- The VET offer is extended to the rural areas and to the most marginalised groups
- VET offers and employment opportunities are better matched
- The Albanian Qualifications Framework (AQF) is developed and implemented
- The National Employment Service (NES) at central, regional and local level is modernised and its functioning is more efficient
- The compliance of labour market legal and institutional framework with ratified international conventions is ensured
- Technical capacities, human resources and coordination mechanisms for implementing effectively the National Strategy for Employment and Skills 2014-2022 are in place
