Capacity Building Academy V

The Development Agency Žepče (RAŽ) led the fifth Capacity Building Academy. The agency is based in the municipality of Žepče in central Bosnia and Herzegovina and works together with other local economic development stakeholders to create better living conditions for residents. Stakeholders include the local government, civil society, educational institutions, entrepreneurs, investors, farmers and tourism service providers.

From 2017 to 2019, RAŽ led the Interreg project “competenceNET – Improvement of Transnational Business Environment through Development of Business Competence Centers and Networks”. The project addressed three problems that affect the cross-border regions of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro: 1) high youth unemployment; 2) low competitiveness of SMEs due to limited access to innovation and new technologies; 3) weak cross-border cooperation.

Over the course of 30 months, project partners established three Business Competence Centres to train youth in entrepreneurship and skills. The project also served to strengthen the competitiveness of SMEs by introducing them to innovation tools such as 3D printing and organising cross-border networking events. Training took the form of workshops, mentoring programmes, study visits and conferences.

At the end of the case study presentation, CAST project partners gave feedback, highlighting relevant challenges as well as what they found particularly inspiring.