USAID’s Economic Security program works to promote economic growth in underdeveloped municipalities by working with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and with Serbia’s youth to equip them with skill sets required to compete in a global economy. The program takes a three-pronged approach of working with the economy, government, and civil society in order to engage all relevant stakeholders in the process of private sector and workforce development. The program’s private sector development approach operates under the principle that the most stable economy is one with growing and thriving enterprises with the ability to increase sales, exports, and jobs.
The program’s business development strategy involves sector specific technical assistance to promising businesses with the capacity to expand into new markets and gain market share. The program takes a sectoral approach to business-level assistance and focuses geographically on south and southwest Serbia. Businesses operating in the following sectors are considered for assistance: 1) Apparel 2) Dairy 3) Food Processing and 4) Light Manufacturing.
Businesses located within the program’s targeted geographic area which operate in these specific sectors can receive firm-level technical assistance. Other firms will be considered for participation in trade shows and other broader efforts. The program’s assistance to other businesses will be in the form of workforce development, strengthening internship programs, and human resource capacity building through the program’s youth development strategy, which will be implemented in up to 80 municipalities throughout Serbia by the end of the project.
The business development activities supported by the program include: supporting trade show attendance and study tour participation to ensure exposure to best practices and new technology; training in business skills, marketing, product design, and sales; assisting with international quality standards acquisition; introducing companies to buyers through buyer trips; creating market linkages at trades shows; and, assisting firms to access financing.
Youth Development
The Economic Security program is committed to working with young people in Serbia by promoting youth entrepreneurship and by increasing their potential for employment. The program’s youth initiative aims to address fundamental deficiencies in the practical education of Serbia’s youth. The program works with both the public and private sectors, and with civil society to strengthen their respective roles in enhancing entrepreneurship education which will yield long-term benefits in Serbia’s underdeveloped municipalities. The program’s youth development strategy concentrates on four areas
1) Support for youth entrepreneurship (through such programs as Junior Achievement);
2) Support for the Ministry of Youth and Sport’s strategy to promote youth employment, self-employment and entrepreneurship;
3) Assisting Serbia’s private sector to improve internship opportunities; and,
4) Development of educational exchange programs.
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