Mechanisms and actors

The Austrian Youth Strategy (chapter 1.3) aims to establish youth policy as a cross-sectoral issue by integrating it into the policy-making of all ministries. This is achieved through the development of national Youth Goals (Jugendziele) in each ministry's area of responsibility, based on the four fields of action of the Youth Strategy. While the Department for Family and Youth in the Federal Chancellery has the main and coordinating responsibility in youth policy, all ministries coin measures of youth policy and consider young people’s position in all new legislative projects as part of the ‘Youth Check’ (Verordnung über die Abschätzung der Auswirkungen auf junge Menschen) (see also chapter 1.2).

As youth-relevant agendas are spread across all ministries, linking these approaches is an important task of the Austrian Youth Strategy, which is managed by the Competence Centre Youth (Kompetenzzentrum Jugend). To facilitate this, the Youth Strategy Forum (Forum Jugendstrategie) provides an informal platform for exchange with relevant stakeholders, including ministries.

To ensure effective implementation of policies that affect young people, the Austrian Youth Strategy has set up coordination structures.The Federal Chancellery coordinates the overall implementation of the strategy, while the Youth Competence Centre at the Federal Chancellery is responsible for coordinating key activities, providing expertise, and establishing connections with experts to build a stable network among different youth policy stakeholders. Additionally, the National Working Group on Youth Dialogue and Youth Participation (Nationale Arbeitsgruppe Jugenddialog und Jugendbeteiligung) brings together federal and provincial authorities and other youth policy actors to address the needs of young people in various policy areas and levels of government.

Furthermore, the Federal Youth Council acts as the representative body for all children and young people at the federal level. Its tasks are laid down in the Federal Youth Promotion Act (Bundes-Jugendförderungsgesetz) and  in the measures to be implemented by the Federal Chancellery.

Federal states

Due to the federal structure of Austria, each head of the provincial youth department (Landesjugendreferate) is responsible for implementing youth policy and promoting extracurricular youth work in their respective province. Matters not assigned to the federal legislation or execution belong to the autonomous fields of action of the provincial states, which may result in different laws across provinces. The heads of provincial youth departments and representatives of the Federal Chancellery meet annually to exchange and update coordination issues, and provincial youth advisory boards counsel provincial governments in the field of youth policy. The conference of provincial youth departments in Austria has defined core tasks that include promoting youth, quality management, gender budgeting, results-based management, research and evaluation, knowledge and analysis of the diversity of young people's living environments, active participation in politics and administration, and active participation in the organization of the living and social environment of young people on various levels.