The Regional Challenge Fund Organizes the Annual Regional Conference

RCF organizes the Annual Regional Conference on Tuesday, May 30th, 2023, 10:00 – 14:00h (CEST) to promote its third call that opens on May 22nd, share the experiences and lessons learned from its previous calls, and foster the exchange among stakeholders in vocational education and training from the region.

The Regional Challenge Fund (RCF) is a financing facility designed to increase youth employability and boosts the competitiveness of enterprises in Western Balkan 6 by funding investments in equipment and infrastructure for selected cooperative or dual training projects implemented through partnerships between vocational training institutes and the enterprises. The grants are allocated through a competitive regional challenge.

The first and the second round of applications attracted more than 300 Expressions of Interest from all Western Balkan 6 economies. The selection process led to selecting 63 projects for financing, allocating approximately 27 million Euros for the investments in equipment, infrastructure, and training at the vocational training providers and partnering enterprises.

With the mission to strengthen the cooperative training approach, RCF will use the opportunity to tackle the subjects of greening, digit(al)ization, and regional cooperation in VET.

The virtual Conference will gather RCF winners, vocational training providers, enterprises, chambers of commerce, employers’ unions, representatives of SMEs, donors, international and regional organizations, civil society organizations, teachers’ unions, and more.

To find out more about the Annual Regional Conference and agenda, click HERE.

Join us on the Annual Regional Conference of the Regional Challenge Fund on Tuesday, May 30th, at 10:00 (CEST) by registering at the button below.

The Regional Challenge Fund (RCF) is a financing facility designed to increase youth employability and boost the competitiveness of enterprises in Western Balkan 6 by funding investments in selected cooperative training projects that are implemented through partnerships between vocational training institutes and the enterprises. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development commissioned 64.43 million EUR for the RCF, and the Swiss Government, represented by the SDC Swiss Development Cooperation, co-financed an additional 9.7 million CHF. The funds were commissioned to the KfW Development Bank and executed by the Western Balkans 6 Chamber Investment Forum (WB6-CIF), a joint initiative of chambers of commerce from the region.