National strategy

BiH is in the process of implementing the Youth Guarantee, a policy initiative aimed at ensuring that all young people under 30 who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET) receive a high-quality job, traineeship, apprenticeship, or continued education offer within four months following disengagement from the labour market. The concept follows the EU Youth Guarantee framework first launched in 2013 and reinforced in 2020.  

Youth Guarantees and their implementation plans, and associated action plans have been adopted at the end of 2023 in RS and BD, while an implementation plan has been adopted in FBiH where pilot versions have been implemented in two municipalities. The Youth Guarantees will be implemented by the local PES. Currently the PES in RS does not offer training programmes to its clients, while training programmes in FBiH and BD have limited reach and capacity.

The BiH Ministry of Civil Affairs (Education Sector) coordinates national implementation plans and liaises with entity employment ministries and international partners to align approaches and promote outreach strategies. Public Employment Services across entities and BD will implement the Youth Guarantee and oversee training and placement activities. Capacity varies significantly across jurisdictions.

Formal education: main policy measures on ELET

There is no comprehensive state-level programmes specifically targeting early school leavers, and interventions are primarily managed at the entity and cantonal levels, resulting in uneven implementation across the country. Despite progress in recent years, the structure of the education system and limited institutional coordination across administrative levels continue to pose challenges in addressing the issue comprehensively. 

According to Eurostat in 2024, the share of young people aged 18 to 24 who left education and training early in BiH was 3.8%, a slight improvement compared to 4.2% in 2023. This is significantly below the EU average of 9.3% for the same year by Eurostat.

National data from the BiH Agency for Statistics indicate higher values depending on methodology. For example, the 2022 Labour Force Survey showed a broader indicator of 28.6% early leavers in the 18–24 age group, highlighting potential discrepancies in definitions and data collection standards.

Data from the European Training Foundation (ETF) published in 2020 also support a long-term positive trend, showing that early school leaving decreased from 7.9% in 2010 to approximately 3.8% in 2019, indicating the effectiveness of certain retention measures.

Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are particularly at risk of early school leaving, including Roma youth (often lacking personal documentation or facing school exclusion), young people with disabilities and youth from economically deprived rural areas.

According to the Youth Study BiH 2024 by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 3% of young people reported leaving education before completion, with rates higher among older youth (11%) and youth with disabilities (7%). The main reasons cited included household responsibilities (41%), financial difficulties (39%), and employment (38%). Strikingly, only female respondents cited employment as a reason for dropping out.

Addressing ELET through non-formal and informal learning and quality youth work

Although Bosnia and Herzegovina do not have a unified national strategy specifically addressing early school leaving through non-formal and informal learning, several legal frameworks and youth policy instruments recognize the role of alternative education pathways and youth work in supporting young people at risk of dropping out.

Non-formal learning and youth work are regulated through the Law on Youth and Law on Volunteering, adopted at the entity and BD levels. These laws define youth work as a form of organised support for young people’s personal, social, and educational development, often implemented outside formal institutions. Youth policies and strategies developed at the entity, district, cantonal, and municipal levels often incorporate objectives and measures related to non-formal education as a tool for inclusion and re-engagement in learning processes.

In practice, the role of non-formal learning in addressing early leaving from education and training (ELET) is reflected through youth sector activities coordinated by umbrella youth councils—namely, the FBiH Youth Council, the RS Youth Council, the BD Youth Council—as well as other non-governmental and youth organizations. These actors implement youth-led initiatives, training programmes, peer-to-peer education, and awareness campaigns aimed at enhancing life skills, motivation, and civic engagement among NEET youth and early school leavers. This group of young people is frequently categorized as part of the broader group of marginalized youth in the context of programme design and project implementation. Such initiatives are typically supported by local authorities and/or international donors, depending on the administrative level and regional context.

Further insights into available opportunities in the fields of non-formal education and youth work are provided in the chapters on youth policy and youth participation.

Quality youth work plays a preventive and remedial role by: 

• Creating safe and inclusive environments for learning and personal development,
• Facilitating access to mentoring, career counselling, and psychosocial support, and
• Building soft skills (communication, problem-solving, teamwork) that support re-entry into education, vocational training, or employment.

Youth centers and NGOs often provide alternative educational spaces for early school leavers through non-formal workshops, volunteering, and structured learning activities. Some of these initiatives include recognition of learning outcomes through certificates of participation or youth pass tools.

However, recognition of non-formal and informal learning outcomes remains limited within the formal education system, and mechanisms for validation and accreditation are fragmented. The absence of a national framework for recognition of prior learning and insufficient cross-sectoral cooperation represents significant barriers to scaling up effective models.

Youth Guarantee pilot actions (2022 – 2025) include a non-formal learning component to support NEET youth in skills development, implemented in cooperation with public employment services and local NGOs.

RYCO -funded regional exchanges often target youth at risk of exclusion and promote intercultural dialogue, non-formal education, and social entrepreneurship.

EU projects (mostly under Erasmus+ programme) have supported the training of youth workers and the development of youth work standards that align with European principles of quality youth work.

Since 2016, SOS Children’s Villages in BiH, in partnership with local organisations across BiH, has been implementing activities aimed at supporting the employment of young people from vulnerable groups. These efforts are aligned with the strategic objectives of the organisation. The project YEEP II – Youth Empowerment Enabling Prospects (2023–2026) is financially supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany (BMZ) and the Hermann Gmeiner Fonds Deutschland. In addition to its local and national components, the project also includes a regional dimension. The project is delivered through non-formal and informal learning methods, including workshops, mentoring, peer support, internships, and exposure visits. Activities are implemented in cooperation with local labour market actors, public institutions, and youth councils, aiming to establish a multi-stakeholder support system. The programme also aims to strengthen psychosocial resilience, social inclusion, and readiness for employment. This regional project targets 1,600 young people at risk across BiH, Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia, with the aim of facilitating their access to employment and active participation in the labour market.

The project is implemented in BiH by SOS Children’s Villages BiH in cooperation with partners in five cities: PRONI Center for Youth Development, BD; Perpetuum Mobile – Institute for Youth and Community Development, Banja Luka; Association "Naša djeca", Zenica; Association "Altruist", Mostar; SOS Children’s Villages office and YEEP Centre, Tuzla.

The YEEP II project functions both as a preventive and remedial intervention in the context of early school leaving and NEET youth: It re-engages early school leavers and young people not in education, employment, or training (NEET) through alternative learning pathways and tailored employment support; It incorporates recognised non-formal learning components, acknowledged within the project and partner networks; however, broader recognition at the national level remains limited; It demonstrates characteristics of quality youth work, combining psychosocial support, vocational counselling, and connections with labour market institutions.

YEEP II builds on earlier experience gained through the YES project (implemented from 2016), during which YES Centres were established and more than 300 young people from socially excluded groups were trained to apply acquired skills in achieving long-term economic self-sufficiency and social integration. During the first phase of the YEEP I project, according to project data from 2023, a total of 162 young people gained employment over a three-year period.

Cross-sector coordination and monitoring of ELET interventions

BiH does not have a dedicated national mechanism for cross-sector coordination or systematic monitoring of interventions related to early leaving from education and training (ELET). While the framework education laws establish general principles related to access and inclusion in education, there is no integrated national strategy or formal inter-institutional body specifically mandated to address ELET across the education, employment, youth, and social protection sectors.

At the operational level, ELET-related activities are usually implemented as individual and uncoordinated programmes by public employment services, social welfare centres, schools, and civil society organizations—frequently with support from international donors. These interventions are rarely integrated into broader policy frameworks or monitoring systems.

The Youth Guarantee process, launched in BiH in 2021 with support from the European Union and the International Labour Organization (ILO), highlighted the absence of an integrated monitoring and referral system for NEET youth. According to the European Training Foundation (ETF, 2024), data on young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) remains fragmented, incomplete, and is rarely used to inform evidence-based policy decisions at the local level.

A similar conclusion was drawn in the OECD Review of Evaluation and Assessment in Education in BiH (2022), which underlined the lack of system-wide monitoring tools, early warning systems, or structured mechanisms for identifying and supporting students at risk of dropping out—across schools, municipalities, and service sectors.

One example of potential cross-sector and regional collaboration is the ARISE – Action for Reducing Inequality in Education project, implemented across six countries: Albania, BiH, Kosovo*, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Türkiye, and funded by the European Commission. As part of ARISE, a National Report for BiH was developed to support the inclusion of students from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds. The report promotes national and regional partnerships between civil society organisations and authorities to improve policy dialogue, raise awareness among education stakeholders, and implements school-level pilot interventions focused on disadvantaged students.

Findings from the National Report indicate that, despite nearly universal access to primary education, the rate of out-of-school children is increasing, currently estimated at 4% of the school-age population. Difficulties in accessing appropriate education are reported among children with disabilities and developmental difficulties, as well as among certain ethnic minority groups. Approximately 32% of students who complete primary education (ages 6–15) do not enrol in secondary education. This average makes a significant disparity: 43% of students from low-income households do not continue into secondary education, compared to 23% of students from wealthier households. The gap is even more pronounced in higher education—only 9.3% of students from low-income families attend university, while 27.3% of students from high-income families do. This educational inequality contributes to the intergenerational transmission of poverty. Overall, 31.5% of students completing primary education do not transition to secondary school, mainly due to poverty and poor academic performance. Despite these gaps, the overall school enrolment rate in BiH remains relatively high, with 94% of school-aged children and youth enrolled.

According to the Study on Non-attendance and Dropping Out of Education (Partner Marketing Consulting, 2011), conducted as part of the Youth Employment and Retention Programme (YERP) led by UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, IOM, and UNV, there are no recent comprehensive data available on early school leaving or school non-enrolment. The 2011 study remains the most cited national reference, though it is outdated.