The third round of self-employment programme for young people was launched today in Tirana. Proposed business ideas will receive support from this measure implemented by UNDP in partnership with National Employment Service with funding from Government of Switzerland. Support includes training, mentoring and finance to start-ups.

“The call we launch today is one of the measures that aims to create better conditions for self-employment. At the heart of this initiative is the fact that self-employment can be an excellent opportunity. I have personally visited some of the small businesses supported by this programme in the past and I am impressed with the quality of business ideas, and with the progress these young people made after the support was given”, said Philipp Keller, Chargé d'Affaires a.i, at the Embassy of Switzerland.

UNDP Country Director Limya Eltayeb stated that “the focus of this round will be on the sustainability of the measure aiming to significantly increase the role of NES with the final goal of transferring the ownership of the self-employment measure to NES.”

This intervention aims to boost entrepreneurship and skills and encourage young people to look for self-employment as a viable alternative. The call will stay open until September 30th and priority will be given to business ideas coming from vulnerable segments of youth as well as from young women.  

Young people can apply through this link: www.afesi.info

The initiative is expected to be part of the ‘active labour market measures’ – as a set of innovative efforts that activate the youngsters’ own ideas, skills and knowledge to transform them into sustainable businesses, and secure income. UNDP will train and support the agency during the initial stage in order to make self-employment measures sustainable.

The previous waves of support have increased competencies for 255 young entrepreneurs. 84 young people have been supported and 76 businesses are up and running.

The Swiss funded project 'Skills Development for Employment'  implemented by UNDP in partnership with the Ministry of Finance and Economy, works to boost the (self) employment of young women and men living in urban and rural areas, introduce entrepreneurship support as an activation measure of the National Employment Service, support the establishment of a regulatory framework for up-scaling work-based learning schemes and quality assurance in vocational education and training.