At the awards ceremony Minister of Education Arberie Nagavci and Ambassador Jörn Rohde presented the first grant awards to Vocational Education institutions and companies who jointly will provide tailored vocational education that equips young graduates with the skills and competencies needed by the labour market. These consortia successfully applied to the Regional Challenge Fund (RCF) supported by Germany through the German Development Bank KfW.

The first call of the Regional Challenge Fund attracted 205 applications by consortia of vocational training institutions and companies from the six Western Balkan countries. Overall 37 projects were selected in the first call, among them six successful applications from Kosovo. The awarded consortia in Kosovo consist of 7 Vocational Education institutions and 25 companies. These consortia will receive 3 million Euro in grants for investments in equipment, infrastructure and training activities at the vocational training institutes.

The RCF will publish soon the second call for proposals. Interested VET schools and companies find further information on the RCF website https://rcf-wb6.org.

The Regional Challenge Fund is a financing facility designed to increase youth employability and boosts the competitiveness of enterprises in the six Western Balkan countries. The RCF is an initiative by Germany implemented by the German Development Bank KfW with a funding of overall 30.5 Million Euro in grants, which are allocated through a competitive regional challenge process in several calls for proposals over the course of 5 years. The Western Balkans 6 Chamber Investment Forum (WB6 CIF) implements the project.