During his stay in Rijeka, but also in Bihać, he noticed the great need of employed parents for kindergarten services. “Regardless of how many public or private kindergartens the city has, the waiting lists are long,” says Edin. So, in 2017, Edin learned in the Employment Service of the USC about the measures to co-finance employment and support the start of self-employment. Edin opened the private preschool “Kućica” with own funds. The responsibility he took on was great because the kindergarten creates the foundations and opportunities for a healthy and happy life and prepares children for future life in the family, work and society. The educator of preschool children is a person of great importance in the development of every child, so that person must have the appropriate professional skills and personality traits. With the support of the Employment Service and the Women’s Employment Incentive, Edin has hired two persons with university degrees, one with a master’s degree in preschool education and the other with a bachelor’s degree in preschool education. In this way, as an employer, Edin contributes to achieving the goal of this measure, which is to facilitate the integration of unemployed women in the labor market and prevent long-term unemployment and contribute to increasing the employment rate of women.
The European Union provided support to the USC Employment Service in assessing and improving measures to co-finance women’s employment and self-employment as part of the “Improving Labor Market Research” project. The project is a continuation of the European Union’s support in the field of labor and employment in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through the analysis of the experience of employers in the measures of active employment programs in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the project will participate in the development of proposals for their improvement. Adoption of EU standards will help Employment Services throughout the Federation of BiH, to spend public money invested in employment programs more efficiently, to better integrate the unemployed into the labor market and thus a more efficient fight against unemployment.
Kindergarten “Kućica” currently employs six workers, and after four years, it has earned a good reputation in the local community of Bihać. Edin advises all persons who are preparing for a similar journey to be well informed about all the possibilities at the very beginning and to visit all institutions where they can get any information regarding starting their own business. “One of the key institutions for the development of my business is the USC Employment Service, which has been providing incentives for co-financing self-employment for many years as good support at the beginning of your own business. Future entrepreneurs must know that!”, concluded Ibukić.
