Representatives of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation visit the Novo Sarajevo Pilot Office

A high-ranking delegation of representatives of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), consisting of the cooperation programme manager and future director for BiH Barbara Datwyler Scheuer, deputy head of the Western Balkans Department Richard Kohli, programme manager for the Western Balkans Irene Kranzlin Espinoza, advisor Magalie Benoît, and regional advisor for economy and employment Stefan Bautscher, visited the Novo Sarajevo Pilot Office of the Public Institution "Employment Service of Sarajevo Canton" Sarajevo on Tuesday, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria.

Director Igor Kamočaji said that the Novo Sarajevo, Centar, Hadžići and Ilijaš pilot offices apply international standards of employment mediation that enable faster integration of unemployed persons into the labour market.

- For the needs of the pilot offices, a new business process scheme was adopted, a set of services was defined, and staff were reassigned with the aim of separating the processes of registration and counselling, in order to devote more time to counselling unemployed persons and communicating with employers - said Director Kamočaji.

The Public Institution "Employment Service of Sarajevo Canton" is today the best organised employment service in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and, in the opinion of many, a guideline for the work of offices in other cantons.

- Of course, all this would have been impossible to achieve had the Service not had the professional and financial support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Youth Employment Project (YEP), the Swiss Embassy and the German company GOPA mbH - emphasised Director Kamočaji.

The register of unemployed persons in Sarajevo Canton records 72,545 persons. He added that the Service will continue reforms this year and will most likely introduce the same practices in the remaining five offices.

The Head of the Youth Employment Project (YEP), Ranko Markuš, speaking about the work of the pilot offices, emphasised that the efficiency of work in the pilot offices increased from 15 to 20 percent in the first six months.

- The Employment Service of Sarajevo Canton is the first service in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to introduce a performance measurement system. The system, which enables monitoring of the activities of each counsellor and office individually, has shown that the Novo Sarajevo Office is the most effective employment office - said Markuš.

Next month, representatives of six cantonal employment services will come for a study visit to the Employment Service of Sarajevo Canton, in order to familiarise themselves with the newly established practices and apply them in their own work.

At the end of the visit, the delegation also visited the Job Search Club of the Public Institution "Employment Service of Sarajevo Canton" Sarajevo, which is among the top ten best Job Search Clubs in Bosnia and Herzegovina.