The “Mismatch” project, support for vocational education and adaptation to the labor market

The “Mismatch” project in Peja has been implemented for three years and in 2013, it is the third phase of the project. The project aims to support the vocational high schools of Peja, adapt them to the needs of the labor market and create the most responsible staff. The project is implemented in the municipality of Peja by the organization “Eye of the vision” with support from Solidar Suisse within the regional program “Youth and Labor in Southeastern Europe”.
In the first year of the project during 2011, research was organized with 127 private and public enterprises in the municipality of Peja, from which various information was obtained on the employment of workers, training of their staff, connections with professional schools, existing professions that they have within the company as well as the problems faced in finding staff for certain professions, while at the end of the year the conclusions and recommendations of the research were drawn.
During the second year, work was done on the connection of vocational secondary schools with business in Peja, the awareness of primary school students about the professions offered by vocational secondary schools. This is through these activities: holding the Career Fair, drafting joint brochures for vocational high schools and special guides for schools, advertisements and broadcasts in local media and holding career counseling lectures in primary schools of the municipality of Peja .
The project for the year 2013 from March to December has the following objectives:
I. Facilitating and raising dialogue between the professional economic school and business in the direction of tourism
II. Creation of the system of completion of internships in businesses for the students of the economics school, management of tourism and hospitality.
The direct beneficiaries of the project will be tourism and hospitality management students, vocational high schools as well as businesses in the tourism and hospitality sector.
Implementation strategy:
During the first months of the project in March and April, the organization will meet with various actors who have a role in the development of tourism in order to gather the necessary information on the situation and needs and to inform the actors about the project and cooperation until completion of the project.
The meeting with all the actors will be held every three months, during these meetings the social dialogue between the representatives of the business and the economic school will be facilitated, but with a special focus on the regulation of practice for the students of tourism and hotel management in the existing businesses in the city of Peja , the regulation of this practice with the appropriate pedagogical documentation and for their achievement.
With the suggestions and results from the meetings, external experts will be engaged who will give the requests of the participants in the meetings the form of appropriate documents for the needs of professional practice.
A project idea related to the connection between schools and business will be considered by the joint group and may be supported during the year.
During 2013, the Eye of Vision with the directors of all primary schools in the city of Peja will initiate the debate on the introduction of the subject of career counseling in these schools, the opportunities and resources they have and the good experiences in this sector.