​ILO LAUNCHES FIRST LOCAL PARTNERSHIP FOR EMPLOYMENT PROJECT IN MOLDOVA

“Local Partnership for Employment” is the name of an initiative of the International Labor Organization (ILO), launched in Cahul on Wednesday in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection, the employers’ unions and trade unions, the local council and local partners within the project “Contribution to Youth Employment”.

According to the local administration, the program was developed and implemented under the auspices of the Territorial Commission for Collective Consultations and Negotiations for creating decent jobs for the youth, new opportunities for business development, training the unemployed at the working place and contribution to the unification of groups of producers.

The local partnership for employment is an innovative model, created by the European Union, which has successfully been implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina by the ILO. It is based on agreed planning of local interested sides, which are facing labor market problems in their community for seeking solutions, adapted to local conditions.

The implementation of the Local partnership for employment in the Cahul raion implies the participation of around 20 public and private partners at the national and local levels, including nongovernmental organizations, financial institutions, educational institutions, employment agencies, associations of producers, enterprises and investors. The total cost of the project is US$403 thousand, US$183.9 thousand is the ILO contribution, while US$15.4 thousand – the contribution of local participants. The remaining US$204.5 thousand will be presented by the Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises Sector Development of Moldova (ODIMM) in the form of grant schemes for developing business and for creation of enterprises of socially vulnerable youth.

“The local partnership for employment implies the creation and designing of over 260 jobs and opening of 106 enterprises in beekeeping, artistic branches and crafts production. Around 670 residents of the raion, including those under risk of social isolation, will directly benefit from opportunities, proposed by the project, and around 1 thousand people in the community will become indirect beneficiaries”, said the “Contribution to Youth Employment” project coordinator Violeta Vrabie.