Venue: Salla e Kuqe, Youth and Sports Centre, Prishtina,

Date & Time: 4 of February, 2025 at 14;00hrs

The project of ““EU Support for the Competitiveness of Kosovo’s ICT Sector”, funded by EU and implemented by WEglobal in consortium with European Management and Prishtina REA, and in cooperation with Ministry of Economy, organised the Award Certification Ceremony for the 9th Semester of the ICT and Digital Skills Training Programme at Salla e Kuqe, Youth and Sports Centre, Prishtina, at 14:00H

The project is designed to address the lack of skilled workforce in Kosovo ICT sector by providing advanced ICT training for students, graduated students from computer sciences, engineering, programming and maths, even developers staff from ICT companies, start-ups and freelancers. The project seeks to improve youth digital knowledge and skills to have the possibility to ensure their employment and future career in ICT sector, start their own businesses as start-ups in existing innovation or incubation centres of Kosovo or become an ICT freelancer/consultant. On the other hand, the project contributes to increase the business skills of ICT businesses and promote their products through organisation of targeted business and management training, B2B events in EU countries, promotes the digitalisation of traditional sectors by bringing together ICT businesses with companies from other domestic important sectors of economy.  

Among the key achieved results by the end of the 9th Semester are the following: 

• 2.806 young people trained 
• 2.262 young people certified on 8 modern ICT training modules
• 18.671 applications to participate in the ICT training were received
• Six international B2B events were implemented in EU countries for 36 Kosovar ICT managers (one more will be organised during February 2025 in France), 17 NDAs’ were signed and at least 3 contracts were implemented 
• 25 regional B2B events were organised for ICT companies to meet with Companies from other sectors of Economy in Kosovo: with more than 960 participants 

The 9th Certification Award Ceremony was organised to deliver certificates to 338 certified trainees, who participated in the 300-hour advanced ICT training programme in one of the eight training modules: Web Development Professional, Enterprise Java Programming, Cyber Security, Web Development Practitioner, Python, Big Data Analytics/Cloud Computing, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, during the last five months. The training modules were delivered by experienced international and local trainers. The certificates were awarded to trainees who

successfully completed the ICT training and passed the final exam. Among the trainees were students, graduated (Bachelor and Master) and employees with a wide range of profiles such as software developers, software engineers, database administrators, database analysts, database developers, cybersecurity engineers, security analysts, IT Managers, network engineers, data analysts, data science specialists, IT administrators and other IT specialists. The event was organised by the “ICT for Kosovo’s Growth “project team, with more than 250 participants, including representatives from Ministry of Economy, STIKK, trainers and trainees of the training programmes.

The award certification ceremony was honoured by the participation of Mrs. Daniela Huhmann, Team Leader Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth, European Union Office in Kosovo, Mr. Agim Kukaj, Head of Department of Information and Communication Technology, Ministry of Economy, Mrs. Vjollca Çavolli, STIKK – CEO. In addition, the representatives of Kosova Telekom and ARKEP attended the event. 

The ceremony was opened by Ahmet Jetullahu (Meti), the Communication and Visibility Expert of the Project, followed by a speech from Mr. Agim Kukaj, Head of Department of Information and Communication Technology, Ministry of Economy, who highlighted the strong interest of the youth in the project, emphasizing the significant demand for the courses offered and the enthusiasm from young people to apply.  Mrs. Vjollca Çavolli, CEO of STIKK, also expressed her gratitude for the excellent cooperation among all the beneficiaries since the beginning of the project and emphasized that this strong collaboration has contributed to the positive results the project has achieved. The project’s achievements were presented by the Project Team Leader, Grigoris Kontzoglou who provided an overview of the milestones reached, highlighting the key successes and positive outcomes that resulted from the collective efforts of all involved.  Mr. Arber Kukaj, one of our trainers, shared some insights about the enthusiasm and dedication of the trainees, while a trainee Gamze Kera shared her positive experience and how the training had impacted her skills and future opportunities.

For the formal award ceremony honouring the trainees with the highest scores, Mrs. Huhmann, Mr. Kukaj, and Mrs. Cavolli were invited to present the certificates.

Light catering was provided at the end of the event to socialise and enjoy the event!