PRESS RELEASE

On Thursday, 7 February, 2008, Junior Achievement & Young Enterprises in Serbia (JAS) and mayors of three southern Serbian municipalities of Bujanovac, Preševo and Medvedja will sign a Memorandum of Understanding formalizing their commitment and support to the start of the student participation phase of the Junior Achievement program in five high schools of these municipalities.   Nine teachers and at least 100 students will be involved in this USAID-supported program during the spring 2008 school term. USAID’s Economic Security program and JAS started the project in October last year in seven municipalities: Bujanovac, Preševo. Medvedja, Kraljevo, Kuršumlija, Novi Pazar and Prijepolje.  The agreements will be signed between Zvonko Brnjas, JAS Executive director, Nagip Arifi, Mayor of Bujanovac, Ragmi Mustafa, Mayor of Preševo and Slobodan Drašković, Mayor of Medvedja.
The purpose of the program is to promote entrepreneurial and business skills among young people in Serbia. The singing of MoU between local governments and JAS is meant to formalize the commitment of local stakeholders to support the program. Through the JA program, students will gain practical knowledge on how to start and run a business and how to launch and promote products and services of the company. At least one company will be formed per school.  The schools from the three municipalities that are involved in the project are: Technical school "Nikola Tesla" from Medvedja, technical school "Presevo" and high school "Skenderbeg" from Presevo, as well as high school "Sezai Surroi" and vocational secondary school "Sveti Sava" from Bujanovac. The program will also build capacities of the teachers. During December 2007 and January 2008, 37 teachers from 20 high schools participated in training certifying them to implement JA activities within their schools. Nine teachers from Bujanovac, Preševo and Medvedja attended the training.

Many students in Serbia lack access to education opportunities in specialized skills required by today’s labor market, which impedes them in finding a job once they leave school. The Junior Achievement program will create an opportunity for youth to learn about entrepreneurship as a career option and will provide the program participants with skills compatible with current labor market requirements.

USAID’s Economic Security program, through JAS, strives to improve the entrepreneurship skills of at least 400 students in its seven target municipalities this year and will build capacities of 37 teachers in 20 high schools during the 2007/2008 school year.  Working with youth to develop marketable skills is one of the USAID Economic Security program’s priorities.

Journalists interested in attending the event are kindly invited to be at the Municipal Assembly building, Preševo, on Thursday, February 07 at 14:15.

For more information about this event please contact Jasmina Debeljak Maljković, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Public relations/Media Specialist, at (011) 363 9900 or Rexhep Ilazi, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Field Office Manager at (017) 405 360.  For more information about USAID’s activities in Serbia, please visit http://serbia-montenegro.usaid.gov

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