A forum of public employment services held in Sarajevo



On 23 June 2016 the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH and the Youth Employment Project (YEP) organized a forum of public employment services in Sarajevo with the support of the Swiss Government. The aim of the forum was to analyse the progress of reforms of public employment services, in particular the role of management in managing organisational change and employee competence framework for managing key business processes.  

The forum gathered heads and members of task groups for the implementation of the Reform Package in public employment services of Tuzla, Herzegovina-Neretva and Bosnian Podrinje Cantons and in the Employment Service of the Brčko District of BiH.  The forum was also attended by representatives of the employment services of Republika Srpska and Sarajevo Canton that have already achieved significant results in institutional reforms.

The aim of the forum was to discuss the role of the management in managing organisational change, the capacities of PES employees, competence framework for key business processes and to agree on the methodology for analysing the training needs of PES employees.   The participants also discussed the activities undertaken so far and the technical preconditions for application of new methods of work, as well as training that has already been provided and the first experiences from the field. 

Siniša Veselinović, Head of Section for Local Labour Market at the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH expressed his satisfaction with the cooperation established between the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH and YEP.  As a result of the Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation signed between the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH and YEP the signatory parties agreed to periodically organise PES fora which will seek to gather public employment services in order to discuss all open issues and challenges they will face in the coming period.

Mersiha Alijagić, Programme Coordinator of the Youth Employment Portfolio at the Embassy of Switzerland said that securing concerted efforts of all employment services in BiH undergoing the reform was of particular importance in order to provide for measurable progress in their work that would ensue after the next four years of reform implementation.   Ms. Alijagić said that a new four-year cooperation strategy between Switzerland and Bosnia and Herzegovina is being prepared which will be awarded significant financial resources.