Project „ Creating new employment opportunities for women “, funded by the European Union

Dear all,

Let me welcome your presence at today’s meeting, which is organized within the project “Creating new employment opportunities for women” funded by the European Union. The purpose of the meeting is to present the objectives of the project, based on which activities will be implemented during the year through the City Red Cross of Skopje in partnership with the NGO Humanost and the Austrian Red Cross. The project is a contribution to the implementation of national employment strategies and a strategy for reducing poverty and social exclusion in the country, and confirms the development of social programs to support the vulnerable target groups in order to improve their competitiveness in the labor market.

This project will increase the integration of long-term unemployed women (40) over 40 years of age in the labor market. The project will contribute to develop and verify a training program for caregivers for elderly people at home, and to develop knowledge and skills of long-term unemployed women in the provision of mobile social services for the elderly in their homes.

Macedonian Red Cross since 2011 with the support of Austrian Red Cross and support from the business sector, develops social and health services for the elderly in their homes supplied by the mobile teams of volunteers of the Red Cross.

With the support of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the City of Skopje as well as with the support of the corporate sector, the City Red Cross of Skopje operates a Daily center for elderly and center for provision of services at home.

Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, according to the “National Strategy for the elderly 2010-2020” supports the development of these off-institutional forms of care for the elderly, where beside the involved personnel, according to the standards there are opportunities for employment and promotion for carers of social services to the elderly in their homes. Currently in Macedonia “Humanost” is the only one that implement verified education program for caregivers for elderly persons. Although there are services offered by this organization, they are still insufficient to meet the requirements of large number of people who need that kind of social services in the home. There is a need for further developing and expanding training programs for caregivers for the provision of such services in Skopje, but also in other cities in the country. Realizing this situation MRC with this project will allow to strengthen the capacities of long-term unemployed women who are one of the most vulnerable group, to gain the skills and knowledge to deliver new social services for the elderly. They will receive certificates which will increase their competitiveness in the labor market.

By providing pilot services for the elderly at home (80), trained caregivers will develop skills for increased sustainability of employment and to develop targeted services for elderly people at home that are essential for the development of non-institutional forms for social services to improve the quality of life of the elderly.

Also of great importance to the project is the partnership with the Austrian Red Cross, who has extensive experience in implementing the program for care of the elderly at home.

Of great importance is the cooperation and support in the implementation of the project by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Ministry of Education and Science, the Center for Adult Education, Agency of Employment and Employment Centre of Skopje Gerontology Institute “13 November “. Through the involvement of all stakeholders in the implementation of project activities it will allow you to give a joint contribution to the response to two major challenges in Macedonia: Employment of people with the weakest position on the labor market, and the development of new mobile services for social assistance and care for vulnerable groups.