Working together to strengthen training and employment in the education sector

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Unemployment has been a big problem in Kosovo for many years, affecting women above all. One factor that contributes to women’s exclusion from the labour market is the lack of childcare facilities. Moreover, the existing pre-school facilities often have insufficient equipment and materials, and the teachers are not trained according to current practices and standards in pre-school education.

Caritas Switzerland wants to tackle these challenges by improving the quality of the education system, promoting pre-school education and development to create the basis for the economic success of future generations. The goal is to improve the skills, capacities and competitiveness of present and future professionals in the education sector. Furthermore, Caritas Switzerland is starting a pilot project that aims to make the (re)integration of parents and carers into the labour market easier. With this project, Caritas can build on its extensive experience and its good reputation in the field of early-childhood education and use established partnerships with national and local actors in order to ensure high-quality training and sustained income growth.

The project wants to ensure high-quality training of professionals in the pre-school education sector. The employment level in the education sector is to be strengthened and the entry of teachers into professional life made easier.

The project builds on the years of specialist knowledge and the excellent reputation of Caritas Switzerland with regard to practice-oriented approaches to pre-school education und the vocational training of specialist teachers. It continues its cooperation with the Ministry of Education and the municipalities and strengthens them further in order to guarantee high-quality professional training, improve the quality of teaching and ensure sustainable, high-quality and child-appropriate education. This will be done with, for example, digitisation, a network of trainers, a licensing system and the professional development of teachers, as well as with more opportunities of practical work for students. This embeds earlier investments and successes in the long term. In close cooperation with state actors, educational professionals are strengthened, and the service is broadened to include other marginalised groups such as children in hospitals.

The project focuses on the labour market by enabling (for example through training measures) current teachers to remain in the labour market. At the same time it enables future teachers who are still in training to enter the labour market. Thanks to a larger number of child-appropriate pre-school institutions with qualified teachers, single mothers in particular are able to concentrate on entering professional life. In addition, they are supported with further professional training. With more time available and better qualifications, parents can go to work. At the same time, the teachers are better qualified so that they can stay in their profession or get a new job. The children receive a high-quality education which lays the foundation, from a young age, for regular school and later for training to become part of the qualified workforce. This enables them to earn a secure income later on and to make an important contribution to the Kosovan economy.

With this project, Caritas Switzerland is working on the thematic priority of ‘incomes in the education sector’. The education of young children, including marginalised children, is improved thanks to the further training of teachers as well the vocational training of carers. At the same time, Caritas lays the groundwork to enable better qualified and skilled workers to remain in the labour market or to enter it and thus secure their income.

Caritas Switzerland works closely with national and local government actors such as the Ministry of Education and the municipalities.