Timeline of a strategic cooperation to support agribusiness’ growth Supporting Albanian exporters to seize a market opportunity through certification Albania has the potential to grow vegetable exports and reach high value buyers located in Western EU countries by investing in certification and standards. By supporting agribusiness’ growth in this direction, more young women and men will find quality employment in the sector, which is one of the key priorities for RisiAlbania, a project of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). In 2018, Albanian vegetable export revenues amounted to 60 million Euros, according to INSTAT. 58% of those derived from exports to neighbouring countries such as Serbia…

Deputy Head of Mission of the Swiss Embassy in Albania, Mr. Patrick Meier, together with Mr. Stephan Joss, National Coordinator of Helvetas in Albania (HSI) and Project Director RisiAlbania, held a meeting with the Mayor of Kolonja, Mr. Erion Isai, during a two-day visit held on 8 and 9 July 2020. Focus was put on the cultivation of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs), as well as the opportunity to develop tourism in this region. The visit was organized in the framework of the cooperation between the Municipality of Kolonja and two projects implemented by HSI, namely RisiAlbania and Strong Municipalities, supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and…

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit hard countries that face multiple socio-economic vulnerabilities and limited coping capacities, as well as people in poverty or at risk of falling into poverty. The crisis pointed out an important aspect about our societies and that we should have more inclusive measures to cope with situations like these. On the other hand, as COVID-19 crises demonstrated, resilience is the key competency that our societies, business and individuals need the most to respond to arising challenges. RisiAlbania has been working with its partner BioAlba to empower rural young women and men, as well as internal migrants, aiming to bring qualitative improvements in the life of such vulnerable and…

Easypay is one of Albania’s leading fintech companies. Digital payment solutions provide faster and lower payment costs for Albanian businesses, contributing to increase of sales, investments and jobs. They improve the ecosystem for the development of e-commerce and of inclusive financing, and the use of digital payments has the potential to increase business resilience. RisiAlbania highly encourages synergy and cooperation between its partners across different sectors. In this light, the project is facilitating cooperation between EasyPay and tourism and agribusiness partners for adapting the digital payment platform Easypay is developing to the needs of those sectors. ‘I believe this payment method can improve the booking procedure from the…

Career guidance remains a new field for the Albanian context, where the service is being applied in a more structured way only in the recent years. Nevertheless the labor market dynamic is continously emphasising how necessary this service is in a society that must respond to global change and the needs of the local market. Currently in the country, there are at least 24 young people who a year ago decided to pursue their degree in career counseling in the master “Professional Orientation”, the only academic program in this field, offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tirana. The master’s program this academic year was conducted…

Many services shifted online during the most critical time of Covid-19 pandemic. For Expert Lane – Career Platform for youth empowerement, this was an accelerated but not unpredicted transition. With the support of RisiAlbania, Expert Lane has developed a unique product for the Albanian market, which responds to the need of young people of different stages in their career development. During social-distancing months, Expert Lane engaged with young people through the delivery of webinars focused on: ‘Skills and methods to find and secure the right job”. Career experts organized a number of live webinars for a wide audience, and over 250 young people showed high interest and have…

Enhancing cooperation of the National Agency for Employment and Skills (NAES), with special focus on Employment Offices, with the business, was the topic of the fruitful discussion among Mr. Patrik Meier, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Switzerland in Albania and Mrs. Elira Çaushi, Director of the Agency. The meeting organized on June 5th, at the premises of the Agency NAES was focused on the vision of the Agency to further improve Employment Offices’ performance towards business services and jobseekers. Emphasis was put on the cooperation between NAES and RisiAlbania and the supportive role of the latter to achieve this vision through products/services already integrated or…