On October 18, 2023, with the support of the American Agency for International Development (USAID), the Youth with Disabilities Forum opened the Career Center for Persons with Disabilities in Belgrade, with the aim of providing support to persons with disabilities in the job search process and inclusion in the working environment. In the Career Center, employment counselors provide a wide range of services, namely: personal development workshops, career guidance and counseling, work practices in the business sector, and various trainings for the labor market will also be available.
“The main advantage of these services is the possibility of individual monitoring in accordance with the employment plan and planned support measures. Support is provided in identifying individual needs for adjusting the workplace and tasks, as well as for registration on the portal for employment of persons with disabilities www.zaposljanje.fmi.rs“, said Jovana Krivokuća – Milovanović, executive director of the Youth with Disabilities Forum.
“In Serbia as well as around the world, USAID is always trying to find ways to support the inclusion of people with disabilities and other marginalized groups, so this career center is an opportunity for that. I would emphasize that our goal is not only for people with disabilities to find a job, but also to develop their skills. What is innovative here is the effort to include the private sector in the story because there are many talented people whose potential is not being used.” said Christopher White, acting director of the Office for Democratic and Economic Development at the USAID mission.
Precisely because we are aware of how important the private sector is in this whole process, Tijana Koprivica, director of sustainable operations of the Delta Holding company, addressed the audience today emphasized the importance of retraining and retraining of individuals during employment and added: “We also worked together on the Strategy about the employment of persons with disabilities and we would like to point out that in addition to training the candidates themselves, it is also very important to prepare the team in the company for the arrival of new employees, and to that end the Youth with Disabilities Forum also holds training sessions for employees. We also provided support to the campaign itself because visibility is very important and our goal is to use our example to show how companies can contribute to a greater interest of the candidates themselves“.
Counselors Milica Glišić and Jelena Kostić will welcome you in the Belgrade Career Center, in the premises of the Forum for Young People with Disabilities, at Kapetan Mišina 26, II floor, apartment 9, every weekday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Interviews with advisors can be scheduled via email: fmisavetnik@fmi.rs or savetnikfmi@fmi.rs, as well as via phone numbers 060/3357 052 and 060/3357 053.
The City of Belgrade is one of the signatories of the Memorandum of Cooperation on the project, and Petar Jordanov, secretary of the Secretariat for Social Protection of the City of Belgrade, spoke at the event, confirming that the City of Belgrade will continue to provide maximum support and stressing the importance of opening this Career Center.
“I want to emphasize that we are on the right path when it comes to supporting the empowerment of people with disabilities, on a path where the role of working on yourself, on self-improvement, is very important, which is one of the main activities that this career center provides” said Dragana. Došić, ambassador of the project and beneficiary of YDF services, who is herself one of the persons with disabilities looking for a job.
Career centers were opened as part of the project “Job Fit; Economic Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities”, financed by USAID, and implemented by the Youth with Disabilities Forum. Other partners in the project are Caritas of Serbia, the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation, Smart Kolektiv and the Center for Independent Living of Persons with Disabilities of Serbia.
