First Quarterly Report

The project has three components: developing new vocational training modalities, promoting inclusive integration and participation of young people with disabilities in the IT sector, and improving the services offered by disabled persons' organizations (DPOs) in the area of workforce inclusion and job skills training. The expected results from the project include a platform with a bundle of IT, soft skills, and business knowledge courses accessible to persons with different types of disabilities, persons with disabilities equipped with skills necessary for employment, increased awareness of the potential of persons with disabilities, and their improved integration in companies from the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. Additionally, the project aims to provide persons with disabilities with internship experience and employment in the IT sector. The project officially started on September 23, 2016, with a kick-off meeting held at USAID Macedonia on September 27, 2016. During this meeting, the project team reviewed the cooperative agreement and discussed open questions with USAID representatives. The project team defined the 10 training course titles for business knowledge and soft skills in October, and published the call for training course content authors. By the end of October, the project designed and published the call for training participants, and Open the Windows (OtW) and the Association of Students and Youth with Disabilities (ASYD) held group and individual meetings with potential training participants. In November, the project published the call for mentors and shared it widely to identify mentors experienced in working with people with disabilities. The outreach and media activities for the project were initiated during this phase, and the iVote Foundation started to share regular updates regarding project activities. The USAID Regional Financial Management Center (RFMC) team from Sarajevo visited the Foundation on November 1, 2017, to assist the project team in fulfilling USAID requirements related to payments and financial management of the project. The project team used social media to spread the word about the project and invite young people with disabilities to participate. After defining the training areas, the project developed a call for training course content authors, and the authors/content developers were selected based on their qualifications and previous experience. The project received 10 applications, but one applicant withdrew due to the short timeline for developing and submitting the course content. The technical ICT skills will be designed and developed in the later phases of the project, depending on the prior level of technical knowledge and skills of the training participants. The project manager developed the annual work plan, which was approved by the USAID Agreement Officer's Representative (AOR) on October 27, 2016. The project identified the areas of soft and business skills training courses, designed and published the call for training course content authors and for training participants, and defined the business knowledge and soft skills training courses. The call for training participants was designed and published on the iVote Foundation web page and shared with project partners and the official USAID Facebook page.