They fear that their women will leave the service: Business training for female members of the Army and employees of the Ministry of Defense postponed

The document from the Ministry of Economic Development states that the training could create conditions for the possible departure of women from the Armed Forces of Montenegro and the Ministry of Defense, at a time when they are facing the problem of retaining personnel.

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Perhaps the training will be implemented this year (illustration), Photo: Risto Bozovic
Perhaps the training will be implemented this year (illustration), Photo: Risto Bozovic
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Last year, the Ministry of Defense canceled the planned training for female members of the Montenegrin Army and employees of that department on acquiring entrepreneurial skills, because it estimates that such a program could further encourage personnel to leave the system.

This is stated in the Report on the Implementation of the Action Plan of the Strategy for the Development of Women's Entrepreneurship for 2025, prepared by the Ministry of Economic Development.

The training was envisaged as one of the activities aimed at the economic empowerment of women and the development of female entrepreneurship. The plan was to organize a program for acquiring so-called “soft skills” of entrepreneurship for female members of the Army and Ministry employees, after determining their needs and interests.

However, the activity was not implemented.

The explanation states that the goal of the training was to improve various skills that could be useful in both the public and private sectors, but that the Ministry of Defense assessed that such education could have unintended consequences.

"On the other hand, the implementation of training on acquiring entrepreneurial skills for members of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Montenegro would create better conditions for eventual retirement from service, which makes its implementation questionable at the present time," the document states.

The reason cited was the problems with personnel retention that the Ministry of Defense and the Army have been facing in recent years.

"The growing challenge facing the MoD and the Armed Forces of Montenegro when it comes to retaining personnel, especially considering the personnel outflow in previous years," the report states.

The activity has therefore been postponed to 2026, and its implementation, as stated, will depend on future developments in the defense sector.

This activity is one of six that were not implemented within the Action Plan of the Strategy for the Development of Women's Entrepreneurship during the past year.

13.154 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises owned by women were operating in Montenegro at the end of last year, representing 25,6 percent of the total number of such enterprises. These companies employed more than 32.000 people.

A total of 84 activities were planned for 2025, of which 78 were implemented, representing a realization rate of 92,86 percent.

The Ministry of Economic Development estimates in its report that a "very high" level of implementation of planned measures has been achieved, noting that this is significantly better than the results achieved a year earlier, when the implementation percentage was 80 percent.

It was specified that 22,36 million euros were spent on the implementation of the Action Plan, almost 10 million more than the originally planned 12,68 million euros, and the reason given was additional financial support from the Development Bank of Montenegro to women entrepreneurs.

According to the document, last year the Development Bank supported 106 projects of women-owned enterprises in the total amount of 18,9 million euros, while the Competitiveness Improvement Program supported 39 women-owned enterprises with more than half a million euros in grants.

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