Swiss-backed show helps Kosovars find jobs

Swiss development aid is being used to help finance a Kosovo TV show in which young unemployed people pitch for a job. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)

Candidates learn how to write a CV and to present themselves to a jury. The producers believe these are particularly useful skills to show TV viewers in a nation where more than half of all 15-29 year-olds are out of work.

Many young people have already left the country, looking for a better life in the west. Switzerland is home to 180,000 Kosovars, one of the largest diasporas.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) wants to encourage projects that help create sustainable jobs. The Alpine country is the third largest bilateral donor in Kosovo, contributing CHF88 million ($90 million) between 2013-2016.

A total of 28 people have so far gained permanent employment after winning Kosovo’s on-screen competition, which is a little like The Apprentice on NBC in the US and on the BBC in Britain. In these programmes, candidates compete for the chance to run a company. In the American version, it was once presidential candidate Donald Trump who did the hiring and firing.