Promoting Decent Work Opportunities for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Youth in Kosovo

The living conditions for members of minority groups in Kosovo, and especially for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) men and women, are particularly challenging. Large numbers of RAE live in poor housing conditions, have little access to healthcare, education and decent work, and face direct or indirect discrimination on a regular basis. Many members of the RAE communities are either excluded from the labour force, self-excluded or discouraged. For RAE youth in Kosovo, the decent work challenges are further amplified by their young age, resulting in serious marginalization and exclusion from the labour market. This project aims at contributing to the development of locally adapted, gender-sensitive measures to promote the labour market inclusion of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian young women and men in Kosovo. The objective will be achieved through the adaptation of an ILO Resource Guide on Promoting Decent Work Opportunities for Roma Youth in Central and Eastern Europe and a pilot intervention using participatory action research methodologies in selected Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Kosovo. The project’s innovative participatory action research component will enable RAE youth themselves to actively examine the labour market challenges they are facing (focusing on specific aspects identified by them as a priority), and facilitate positive change through action. The methodology ensures the involvement of all relevant stakeholders in the process and provides them with the tools that can enable them to become active agents of change. The project will actively strive to contribute to the economic and social empowerment of young women from RAE communities by securing their involvement in responsible roles throughout the project, and ensuring that their analysis, concerns and needs are appropriately addressed. The project aims at generating capacity and commitment on the part of Kosovar public agencies, social partners, and other stakeholders, including RAE youth directly, to address the labour market marginalization of RAE youth. Project activities will contribute to the formulation of evidence-based gender-sensitive and inclusive policies and programmes to promote decent work for RAE youth. Furthermore, the project will enable a sub-regional exchange to pull together the individual experiences of ILO interventions on Roma youth in the sub-region, draw comparative lessons, and feed the lessons learned into international European debates.

Project symbol

RER/16/03/ISR

Admin unit

DWT/CO-Budapest

Start date

21/12/2016

End date

21/12/2018

Total allocation

147756

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

142674

Development Partners

Israel, Ministry of Economy

Country/Countries

Central and Eastern Europe

Outcomes

Protection of workers from unacceptable forms of work