On Wednesday, February 18, 2009, USAID’s Economic Security program, Junior Achievement Serbia (JAS) and the City of Belgrade are jointly organizing a ceremony marking the kick-off of Junior Achievement activities in Serbia for the 2008/2009 academic year. Michael Harvey, USAID Mission Director, Radmila Hrustanovic, Deputy Mayor of Belgrade, Oldo Vanous, Director of Operations – JA Europe and Željko Ožegović, JAS Board Chairman, as well as a former JA student will speak at the ceremony.
The JA program is an after-school activity that offers high school students the opportunity to learn entrepreneurial skills and business concepts by challenging students to come up with viable business ideas and to start-up simulated businesses that are managed by the students themselves. It inspires young people to appreciate the values of entrepreneurship and to understand market principals and financial concepts. In Europe, thirty eight countries offer JA programs and more than 2,900,000 young Europeans will graduate from a JA-Young Enterprise Europe program this year. In Serbia this year, USAID and the City of Belgrade Administration, Secretariat for Education, will assist the JA program to teach entrepreneurship in 91 high schools across the country.
Many students in Serbia lack access to practical educational opportunities, which USAID’s Economic Security program seeks to address by equipping Serbian youth with specialized skill sets required by employers on the labor market, through support to the Junior Achievement program and other entrepreneurship training programs designed for youth. USAID is committed to working with Serbian youth to acquire practical skills to succeed in the private sector or to start businesses. Ever since the inception of the Junior Achievement program in Serbia, USAID has provided approximately $400,000 towards the implementation and development of JA activities in Serbian municipalities outside the City of Belgrade. The City of Belgrade has supported the JA program in Belgrade high schools since the 2005/2006 academic school year.
Junior Achievement in Serbia (JAS) is a member of Junior Achievement Worldwide, an organization dedicated to inspiring and preparing young people to succeed in a global economy. JAS has been active since 2002 in Serbia. To date, the program has been implemented in 200 schools in 43 municipalities throughout Serbia and 16 schools in the City of Belgrade.
Journalists interested in attending the event are kindly invited to the Belgrade City Hall, 2 Dragoslava Jovanovica Street, on Wednesday, 18 February, at 13.15 a.m.