Posted on 04/10/2013 6:05:47 AM PDT by IbJensen
(CNSNews.com) The U.S. State Department, through the Agency for International Development (USAID), has announced that it will award up to $300,000 for workforce development in Serbia.
The Republic of Serbia is in southeastern Europe, north of Greece and surrounded by Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Croatia and Macedonia. It has a population of 7.26 million.
Currently, there is a mismatch between private sector needs and the capacity of the existing workforce, which continues to contribute to the high unemployment rate, especially among youth, said USAID in a March 29 announcement.
Therefore, USAID/Serbia has identified workforce development as a means to address the broader problem of unemployment, reads the announcement.
The current national unemployment rate in Serbia is 25 percent, although the unemployment rate among youth is nearly 50 percent nationwide, according to USAID. Many communities, the agency added, are experiencing levels of unemployment far higher than 50 percent.
The USAID is soliciting proposals, Concept Papers for specific activities related to workforce development (WFD) in Serbia, reads the announcement. USAID/Serbia is interested in addressing workforce development challenges in ways that advance the respective interests and objectives of both USAID/Serbia and the private sector.
The estimated dollar range of requested USAID funding cannot exceed 300,000 USD, states the agency. The proposals must also include private-sector matching of funds with the government requests on a 1:1 basis and preferably at a significantly greater level.
The agency added that it is seeking to accelerate the transition of the Serbian economy and support the European Union integration process by seeking to engage private sector partners with the public sector.
The USAID noted the impact the global economic and financial crisis has had on the country in recent years.
Serbias continued constraints to growth include an unacceptably high rate of long-term unemployment; a substantial share of the economy under state ownership; a large current account deficit; poor growth in output from the manufacturing sector; and, a high level of foreign debt among private companies and households, said the USAID.
A growing national debt is also a cause for concern among many Serbians.
According to the CIA World Factbook, the national debt in Serbia topped $48.2 billion in 2012, or about 61.5 percent of the countrys total GDP during that year.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate is 7.6 percent in America but some 89.9 million Americans have dropped out of the work force -- up 9.46 million since Barack Obama was first inaugurated in January 2009.
In addition, the unemployment rate for African Americans in America is 13.3 percent, and for Latinos the rate is 9.2 percent. The number of African Americans not in the labor force is 11.7 million; for Latinos, 12.9 million.
DEFUND every social-engineering NGO. DISMANTLE the state department. DEPOPULATE socialists from the body politic.
live - free - republic
BIG GOVERNMENT IS CRONY SOCIALISM. See it.
Crap like this isn't cut by the socialist regime, yet White House tours for schoolkids is!
If its only $300k (not million), I’d guess it pretty much goes directly to a single person, or its a pilot payment for a much greater amount later.
Geez, if we are cutting things because of ‘Sequester’ how come this didn’t make the list?
I might say that the removal of socialists in both governments, Serbia's and ours, would begin to alleviate the problems stated. The only reason Serbia is being offered so little money is that they are not totally Muslim, yet. When they have killed off the last of the Christians, then USAID and Obama will fund Serbia like a community outreach program - with billions.
Of course. Are you starting to get it now? 0 wants to destroy this country.
Give Obama a break.
He promised to focus like a laser on job creation.
He didn't promise the jobs he created would be in the USA.
WHEN YOUR OUTGO EXCEEDS YOUR INCOME, YOUR UPKEEP WILL BE YOUR DOWNFALL. (Paul Harvey)
Well-said, Thommas. I agree.
Excuse the late reply but I was going through an archive search, just looking at news from the past month, and saw your post.
It’s begging for clarification. The Bosnians are the (mostly) Muslim residents of that part of the Balkans. The Serbs are (with a few exceptions) Orthodox Christians and the Croats are (also with few exceptions) Catholics.
Practically speaking, outsiders would have a fairly difficult time identifying any differences between the three groups. With regional variations, the language is pretty much the same. It’s only the religious differences that have been used to keep people apart. (Sometimes by outsiders, sometimes by opportunistic local leaders.)
F.Y.I.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.