Helvetas Regional MSD East/WB 2020-22 - Helvetas Regional MSD - Armenia, new strategy Helvetas Regional MSD Öst/VB 2020-22 Helvetas, en internationell enskild organisation, har utvecklat ett förslag på etablering av en regional sysselsättningsinsats, varav merparten avser landspecifikt arbete i Armenien, och regionalt arbete i Östeuropa (75%). Återstoden allokeras till arbete på Västra Balkan, inklusive ett litet landfönster för Nordmakedonien. 

Insatsen uppgår till 76,2 miljoner SEK och omfattar 22 månaders inceptions- och pilotarbete för två större regionala program i Östeuropa och på Västra Balkan, med förväntad start under våren 2023. 

Insatsen tillämpar en inkluderande marknadssystemansats och innevarande fas består av komponenter som forskning, analys, institutionsuppbyggnad och testning av en rad insatshypoteser för uppskalning i ett långsiktigt program. Ett antal internationella och lokala organisationer förväntas bidra till genomförandet, och Helvetas har rätt att vidareförmedla medel för detta ändamål. De förväntade resultaten är huvudsakligen processmål samt vissa effekter på sysselsättning och inkomstskapande (4 000 personer) och förbättrad anställningsbarhet (förbättrade yrkesrelaterade färdigheter för 8 000 personer). Helvetas, an international NGO, has developed a proposal covering the establishment of a regional inclusive economic development programme, where the main part of the budget (75%) is dedicated to regional level work Eastern Europe and a country window for Armenia. The remaining part is dedicated to Western Balkans including a small North  Macedonia window. The intervention, amounting to 76.2 million SEK, is an inception- and pilot phase in preparation of two larger long term programmes in Eastern Europe and Western Balkans which are expected to start during spring 2023. 

The intervention framework applies an inclusive market systems development approach where the inception phase consists of a set of deliverables relating to research, analysis, institution building and piloting of interventions for possible scale-up within a longer term programme. A number of local partners will be engaged in the implementation and Helvetas has the right to forward funds accordingly. The expected results are process targets relating to programme design and institutionalization, combined with some early outcome effects on employment and incomes (4,000 people) and improved employability (skills improvements for around 8,000 people). The intervention is a research and piloting phase of a larger and longer term expected programme. As such, the majority of objectives relate to deliverables in research, piloting, institutionalization and long term design work as outlines in the Inception Plan section of the Proposal (Annex 7.2). 

In addition to the output level deliverables referenced above, the pilot interventions envisioned for this phase is expected to yield some early development outcomes in themselves (Annex 7.1). The ultimate objectives of the longer term programme envisioned are improved incomes and employment opportunities for economically disadvantaged people. Women and youth are pre-defined as belonging to this group. A hypothetical assessment presented in the results framework attached to the Proposal, is that around 8,000 people's lives are likely to be affected by changes catalyzed by the project, out of which 4,000 will see explicit income improvements already during the course of the programme. An estimated CHF 3.3 million (SEK 33 million) are expected to be mobilized by the private sector towards the programme objectives. 

With a cost extension for the programme which extends operations up to the end of 2022, the number of beneficiaries with improved employment opportunities are expected to increase by 1,800. The additional amount of private sector capital expected to be mobilized is CHF 1 million (SEK 10 million).