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YouthWiki

EACEA National Policies Platform
Croatia

Croatia

10. Youth Work

Last update: 28 November 2023

There is no official definition of youth work in Croatia. For the first time, in 2014, youth work found its place in an official national document, The National Youth Programme (2014-2017). There are linguistic ambiguities concerning the term “youth work” in Croatian. Although there is no official consensus, “youth work” in Croatian is usually called “rad s mladima”, which literally translates into English as “working with youth”. As such, it is not a coherent concept but rather a descriptive category without specific meaning, as many professionals across many different disciplines “work with youth”. As a consequence, youth work is generally poorly understood, except by a very limited circle of experts. The Central State Office for Demography and Youth is responsible for the development of youth work policy in Croatia. Youth work in Croatia in largely based in civil society organizations, but thanks to initiatives such as Europe Goes Local - Supporting Youth Work at the Municipal Level, there is a growing number of local authorities which recognize the importance of youth work and are willing to support it.