Results of the 2013 population census in Bosnia and Herzegovina were not published by March 2016 and the last relevant source of data is the Labour Force Survey conducted in April 2015 as per ILO standards. According to survey, the unemployment rate stands at 27.7 per cent (62.3 per cent among people aged 15 to 24). The assumed unemployment rate is estimated at 43 per cent. Bosnia and Herzegovina is placed in the World Bank’s GDP list at the 111th place; some 19 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line. There is no country-wide assessment focused on the socio-economic status of IDPs and returnees. Results of the 2015 survey, targeting 1,223 most vulnerable households in eight municipalities, will be processed in 2016 as well as results of the 2015 survey conducted in the collective centres (to be continued in 2016); they will gide the fine-tuning of the assessment. By the end of 2016, UNHCR Bosnia and Herzegovinawill be contributing to this Global Strategic Priority through the multi-year (2013-2016) project in Canton 10 infederal Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina, funded by UNTFHS (agricultural assistance), and also through €8.1 millionmulti-year project (2014-2016), funded by EU and UNHCR. Through the latter project, UNHCR will continue providing income-generation (IG) assistance (equipment, supplies, cattle, inclusion in value chains, and employment in SMEs) to IDPs, returnees in ten Bosnia and Herzegovina municipalities through the municipal structures established within the project. Besides the concrete assistance, the project has the additional layer - enhancing the capacity of authorities to effectively identify the needs of this group, design the response, include it in planning documents and make necessary budgetary allocations. After 2016, the needs of the IDPs and returnees are expected to be routinely incorporated into the action plans of these municipalities and subsequently, in the annual budgets, thus providing sustainable solutions.
