Project Starting Date: 1 September 2011
Project End Date: 15 May 2013
Project Budget: € 1.806.294,73
Contractor: Agency for European Integration and Economic Development (AEI), Austria, c/o Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance
Final Beneficiary: Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (MLSP), Labour Department, and Employment Service Agency of the Republic of Macedonia (ESARM)
Overall objective:
To develop capacity for long-term forecasting of the labour market and build up capacities for monitoring and evaluation of the employment policy.
Purpose:
To strengthen the capacities and develop the skills of all relevant stakeholders, in terms of long-term forecasting, as well as policy and programmes monitoring and evaluating, by building up a long-term forecasting system of labour market and a sustainable sound system to monitor and evaluate the employment policy of the country.
Expected Results:
Component 1: Development of a long-term forecasting of the Labour market by building up forecasting capacities of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy
Mandatory result 1: Long-term forecasting of the labour market introduced by supporting the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy in building up its general forecasting system.
Mandatory result 2: Analytical capacity of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy strengthened in terms of long-term forecasting of the labour market.
Component 2: Improvement of the capacities and skills of bodies, institutions and social partners to monitor and evaluate employment policy and programmes.
Mandatory result 3: A general monitoring and evaluation system of employment policy developed.
Mandatory result 4: Capacity of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and other stakeholders improved and developed for monitoring and evaluation of the policy and programmes in the field of employment.
Mandatory result 5: Social partners hold a full and active role in monitoring and evaluation of the employment policy.
Target groups:
Employees within the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (MLSP), Labour Department, and Employment Service Agency of the Republic of Macedonia (ESARM), employers and unemployed, social partners, etc.
Key project activities:
The Twinning assistance provided in the form of know-how transfer, and delivered though:
Component 1: Development of a long-term forecasting of the Labour market by building up forecasting capacities of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy
The following activities were carried out:
- Assessment of capacities and needs and identify shortcomings;
- Written a discussion paper about long term forecasting in close cooperation with all stakeholders;
- Designing long – term forecasting system of the labour market, by determining its objectives, methods and techniques, procedures, institutional framework, etc.;
- Introducing and setting up the designed long-term forecasting system;
- Contribution to the drafting of Technical specifications and Terms of reference related to the purchase of supplies for IT support in line with the setting up of the long term forecasting model;
- Training specialists in long-term forecasting of labour market, with a specific focus on the shortcomings related to the existing mismatching between the educational system and the labour market needs;
- Building capacity within the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy to carry out analysis and market researches on the labour market in a long term forecasting perspective;
- Reinforcing inter-institutional cooperation and coordination in terms of data sharing and long-term forecasting of the labour market;
- Development of cooperation with social partners concerning long-term forecasting.
Component 2: Improvement of the capacities and skills of bodies, institutions and social partners to monitor and evaluate employment policy and programmes.
The following activities were carried out:
- Assessment of the existing in terms of monitoring and evaluation (objectives, methods and techniques, procedures, institutional framework, data analyzed, etc);
- Identifying specific challenges and determine the specific needs;
- Designing a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system for employment policy and programmes in line with the requirements of European Employment Strategy;
- Introducing indicators based on EMCO indicators needed in a view to fulfill European obligations stemmed from the European Employment Strategy;
- Fully incorporating the Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs into the National Employment Strategy;
- Iimplementation of the designed monitoring and evaluation system;
- Training institutions and stakeholders for monitoring and evaluation of policy and programmes;
- Defining social partners’ role in terms of monitoring and evaluation;
- Improving technical/analytical capacities of the social partners in monitoring and evaluating policy and programmes at central and local level;
- Strengthening the involvement of social partners in terms of monitoring and evaluation of employment policy and programmes at central and local level.