A voucher will amount to HRK 10,000 on average and will be given only for the acquisition of green and digital skills, Hina learned from the Croatian Employment Service, which is conducting the programme together with the Labour Ministry.
The ministry has defined 60 short-supply green and digital skills.
The amount of the voucher a person gets will depend on the sector, duration and complexity of the education programme. If the cost of the programme exceeds the voucher amount, the difference will be covered by the beneficiary or their employer if they are employed.
The education programmes may last up to six or ten months, depending on whether the person is unemployed or employed.
Beneficiaries will be able to use the vouchers at 600 institutions for adult education which offer 11,000 programmes.
Croatia has opted for the voucher model to respond to labour market needs and to reach the EU adult education average by 2030. At the moment, Croatia is at 3.5%, while the EU average is 10.8%.
For the next four years, HRK 300 million has been set aside in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan for this purpose. The voucher programme is aimed at the jobless and employed persons who could lose their jobs because they don’t have the knowledge or skills required by the market or who wish to advance their careers.
Applicants must be 15 or older and have at least elementary school education. Applicants may come from the private, public and government sectors, but the programme does not apply to persons in the education system, science and pensioners.
(€1 = HRK 7.5)
