Aleksandra Jončić from the Serbian town of Pirot found a job in the beauty industry thanks to the efforts of REF Serbia. The organization is supporting young Roma vocational school students or graduates to discover job placements in their country with the funds of the KFW German Development Bank. KFW funding is granted for the project “Improved Education and Integration Opportunities for Roma in Serbia, Employment Empowerment of Young Roma, Reintegration of Returnees,” to link successful graduation from vocational high school with skills-training for the labor market in Serbia.
Besides Aleksandra, the sequence of videos also present:
Barbara Durmišević from Pirot, placed as a dental technician
Bojan Stanojevic from Kragujevac, placed as a welder
Iva Barčic from Nis, Faculty of Arts (wind instruments and clarinet)
Jasmina Drmaku from Novi Sad, Faculty of Economics and Engineering Management in Nis
Jelena Krivokapic from Novi Sad, Faculty of Law
Marko Đorđević from Beograd, digital marketing
Marko Manojlovic from Kragujevac, Welder Training Attendee
Miloš Manić from Pirot, traffic technician
Stefan Jovanovic from Kragujevac, Welder Training Attendee
Tatjana Radivojevic from Nis, news-person in the newsroom of Southern News, a Serbian media outlet
Direct outputs of the interventions in Serbia are: increased educational status of 498 Roma students (in 2016/17 school year) and 500 Roma students (in 2017/18 school year) within 79 municipalities; increased employment status of around 600 Roma individuals within 68 municipalities; support provided to around 220 returnee families through the Grant Program within 5 municipalities.
