Project Description

Contribute to better access to decent employment opportunities.

  • Implemented by: Consortium Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation and Development Studio d.o.o./Posao.ba.
    Fully supported by: SDC – Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
  • In the period: 01/2013-12/2017

Overall objective

Contribute to the transition towards socially included market and decentralized, democratic political system, as well as the long-term perspective to the process of joining the European Union.

Specific objectives

  1. Encourage the growth of private markets in selected sectors, which will lead to the creation of new jobs for young women and men.
  2. Achieve a significant volume of change in the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Proposed activities and achieved results

The activities of the support to the MarketMakers were divided in the following periods:

In 2013 – Preparational activities

  • Identification of the sector with the greatest potential for employment in the region
  • Preparation of plan for project activities to be performed in the forthcoming period

In 2014 – Technical support in the implementation of development initiatives in the sectors of food and food processing, ICT and tourism.

  • Completed “Market System and Stakeholder Analysis”, which confirmed the method of selecting partners in the MarketMakers programme
  • REZ Agency selected for the implementation of development initiatives in the sectors of production and processing of food, ICT and tourism
  • Business advisors of the REZ Agency trained in “Governance” and “Monitoring and Evaluation”, as part of the capacity building support program of regional development agencies according to the M4P (“Markets for Poor”) methodology.

In 2015 – Technical support in the implementation of development initiatives in the food, ICT and tourism sectors, aimed at encouraging sustainable growth and investment of a large scale private sector in industry, leading to the creation of new jobs for young women and men in BiH.

  • Established project cooperation for sectoral activities with the regional agencies SERDA, REDAH and NERDA.
  • Developed intervention in the IT sector, within business IT services (ITES – Enabled Services).
  • Through the sector group for the production and processing of food, implemented were interventions: Floods, Production and Marketing
  • Through the “Production” intervention, additional services of companies in rural areas are supported.
  • Cooperation with the companies “ePicentar” (online-marketing) and “Jitasa” (accounting and bookkeeping services) has been established.

In 2016 – Technical support in the implementation of the development initiative in the business services sector, which aims to stimulate the sustainable growth and private investment in industry, leading to the creation of new jobs: continuous research and analysis on specific topics necessary for the design and implementation of interventions; facilitating intervention strategies.

  • Defined Business case “Market Development Intervention in the Business Services Sector” with activities envisaged: Organization of events for the promotion of entrepreneurship, launch of a startup idea fund; Direct support to investors through Municipal Support Centres; Purchase of software for computer modelling and installation in secondary vocational schools, etc.
  • The initiative for opening “WIP co-working space” for SEO Ltd Travnik for 20 users of co-working space with 25 seats.
  • Promoted business services sector (all services that can be exported) at the event in Teslić, September 2016; Featured companies: Jitasa, E-Media Patch, Argerr, Strojotehnika
  • A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the MarketMakers project and the municipalities of BEAR region (Teslić, Tešanj and Žepče).

In 2017 – Implementation of Business Services Sector Development Initiative and Transition Support.

  • Implementation of the initiative for the development of the business services sector in the region of Central Bosnia and Sarajevo Macro Region. Improve access to opportunities for profitable and decent employment of young women and men (aged 15 to 29).
  • Provide support to the MarketMakers during the transition period between Phase 1 and Phase 2, and services are related to:
    • Support end of Phase 1 of the reporting process, including data collection and tasks related to measurement results
    • Monitoring the progress of the Phase 1 partner project in line with the business case and reporting
    • Making recommendations relevant to Phase 1

About the Programme

MarketMakers program is supported by the Swiss Government through the Swiss Embassy in BiH and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), as part of the contribution of the Swiss government to BiH transition towards socially included market and decentralized, democratic political system, as well as the long-term perspective to the process of joining the European Union.

REZ Agency was a co-facilitator of the activities in the Phase I of the MarketMakers programme, implemented by the consortuim of Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation and Kolektiv d.o.o. (Posao.ba), where international experience in the development and the knowledge of local partners are combined. MarketMakers encourages the growth of private markets in selected sectors, which will lead to the creation of new jobs for young women and men.

The total duration of the programme implementation is eight years and the goal is to contribute to improving access to decent employment opportunities. The strategic framework that leads MarketMakers team in all their partnerships and actions is an innovative and systematic approach known as M4P. The key implementing partners will be regional development agencies and other relevant organizations from BiH.