EU4Employment in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Despite some progress achieved since the middle of the 2010s, structural labour market challenges persist in BiH. EU4Employment’s specific objective is to increase employment opportunities for youth, rural women, and vulnerable groups. People belonging to these groups face compounded labour market difficulties, due to a combination of personal characteristics and the tightness of the local labour market. To tackle these challenges, the ILO intervention works on a balanced and adequate mix of a carefully designed grant scheme and the provision of high-quality technical assistance by the ILO.

Several institutions, and organizations, at all levels of governance, will benefit from the intervention in terms of advancing their capacities, mechanisms, and processes to tackle structural labour market challenges affecting final beneficiaries at risk of labour market exclusion. These include ministries in charge of labour and social policy, public employment services, social welfare centres, Funds for the professional rehabilitation and employment of people with disabilities, employers and their organizations, social partners, and civil society organizations already extending some forms of support to the end-beneficiaries.

To achieve the results, the Action will:
a. build on previous/concurrent initiatives in BiH that have developed relevant methodologies and/or tools; 
b. integrate well-tested ILO tools into both grant scheme support and technical assistance components; 
c. capitalize on the long-lasting partnership between the ILO and labour market institutions in BiH with a view to extending application and sustainability of these programmes and processes beyond the duration of the Action.

The ILO will involve experts from EU's Public Employment Services (PES), Pole Emploi (France's public employment service), and Actiris (Brussels employment office) in the provision of technical assistance. Additionally, Sweden, as co-financer, could facilitate the participation of the Swedish Public Employment Service in some aspects of implementation.