Project Description

Project Description

Epi Center International, in collaboration with Gamper Smith Associates, participated in the external mid-term Evaluation of the second phase of the "Increasing Market Employability – IME" Project, which was implemented in the period from 2019 to 2023. The project is financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation - SDC, and in North Macedonia conducted by Palladium.

The Increasing Market Employability Programme (IME) is aimed at strengthening the business sector in the Republic of North Macedonia; through creating an enabling environment for identified high-growth target sectors as: Sustainable Agribusiness, Adventure Tourism and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The overall lifespan of the Increasing Market Employability project in North Macedonia is 11 years, with a total budget of 15.5 million CHF funded by SDC. IME phase 1 started in April 2014 with a one-year inception phase and ended in July 2019, while the second phase started in 2023 with implementation of specific activities.

To conduct the project evaluation, the objectives were defined as follows:

• To learn from what works, what does not work and why
• To provide accountability on results achieved to stakeholders and funders
• To provide steering recommendations to SDC for a potential phase 3

For a successful implementation of the Evaluation, we carry out the following activities:

1. Secondary Data Review: as review of project documentation; Interview guides; Guidance tool for self-assessments and Field mission programme
2. Primary Data Collection: as collecting primary data namely by Internal Meetings, Selected Expert Interviews and Field Observations, with more than 60 different representatives
3. Data Analysis and Reporting: creation of conclusions and designing recommendations

All additional information about the IME Program could be seen at the following link: https://ime.org.mk/mk/doma/.  

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