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1. Existence of a National Strategy on social inclusion

2. Scope and contents

3. Responsible authority

4. Revisions/ Updates

Existence of a National Strategy on social inclusion

There is not a national strategy on the social inclusion exclusively of young people. However, the Strategy on Social Policy (Στρατηγική για την Κοινωνική Πολιτική) targets the whole population of the country, which also includes young people. This strategy is the government's decree, which outlines the social priorities of the Republic of Cyprus for the period 2022-2027.

Moreover, one of the 8 action fields of the National Youth Strategy (Εθνική Στρατηγική για τη Νεολαία) is Social Inclusion. The National Youth Strategy was adopted in May 2017 by the Council of Ministers and it covers the period from 2017 until 2022. The Strategy is cross – sectorial hence it incorporates all the policies that concern young people.

Scope and contents

As reported in the Strategy for Social Policy 2022-2027, the main goal of the State continues to be the recovery from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic by building a strong and effective welfare state, with measures for the increase of the employment and the creation of quality jobs, the welfare of citizens and development.

The Strategy focuses on the following priorities:

• Investment in Skills, Training and Retraining
• Investment in Employment and Creation of new jobs
• Children, women and family support
• Protection of Workers' Rights - Social Protection
• Social Cohesion and Social Welfare

With regard to the National Youth Strategy (NYS), the main priority is to promote equality and the respect of human rights so as to eliminate social discrimination against young people. In order to achieve this aim, a culture that encourages social inclusion should be created. Social inclusion allows all young people to enjoy their social rights freely, regardless of their background. At the same time, it is a dynamic process, which allows all social groups to participate in a dialogue that aims at social peace. The first goal of the NYS is to ensure equality and respect of human rights and the second goal is to create a mindset that promotes social inclusion.

The top priorities of the National Youth Strategy for achieving the above goals are the following ones:

• Provide constant information to young people on the rights of groups with fewer opportunities or groups of people who might be threatened with social exclusion.
• Develop actions that contribute to social inclusion and to the participation of young people with fewer opportunities or who are threatened with social exclusion.
• Develop actions that contribute to reducing discrimination among G/C and T/C youth.
• Promote actions for social inclusion and against social exclusion in the school environment.
• Promote actions and programs that will encourage and develop social participation for groups that are threatened with social exclusion (i.e. through special equipment, structured environment guidelines, etc.).
• Develop creative expression, arts and foreign language learning as means of diversity, tolerance and respect.
• Encourage the participation of people with fewer opportunities in mobility programs for skills and abilities development.

Responsible authority

The top-level authority responsible for the implementation, coordination and monitoring of the Strategy for Social Policy is the  Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance and particularly by the Social Welfare Services (Υπηρεσίες Κοινωνικής Ευημερίας). The strategy is not integrated in any other national strategy fighting exclusion.  So far, there is not information about evidence-based monitoring/assessment/evaluation of the implementation of the strategy.

The national coordinator for the drafting and monitoring of the implementation of the National Youth Strategy is the Youth Board of Cyprus. For the implementation of the Strategy a Cross-sectorial Working Group on Youth is established in order to ensure constant coordination and close cooperation among all governmental institutions that deal with youth issues. The Cross-sectorial Working Group has developed the  two 3-year Action Plans (2017-2019 & 2020-2022) which are monitored via regular progress reports coordinated by the Youth Board of Cyprus. The first Progress Report for the period 2017-2019 revealed that more than 26 actions have been implemented or are still in action, aiming at young people’s social inclusion. Briefly, some of the actions can be summarized to the following ones: programs to empower employment of disabled youth, creation of a new center to host unaccompanied minors, teaching of social skills, foster care programs for minors, programs for empowering inclusion of young people coming from Third Countries, etc.

Revisions/Updates

The strategies have not undergone major revisions/updates. The drafting of the new National Youth Strategy 2030 is expected to be finalised with 2024.