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1. Programmes specific for vulnerable young people

2. Funding

3. Quality assurance

Programmes specific for vulnerable young people

There are several programmes initiated by the ministries responsible for the areas of work in the youth social inclusion domain. 

Programme “Children and youth at risk”

The most wide-reaching initiative in Estonia developed to support specifically young people at risk in the recent years was the programme “Children and Youth at Risk” (Riskilapsed- ja noored), that was developed in 2009 covering the period 2009-2014, extended until April 2017. Official legal bases for the programme is the programme agreement between the Financial Mechanism Committee established by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway and the Estonian Ministry of Finance. Programme operator i.e. the main responsible body for the programme is the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Social Affairs, the implementation agency of the programme was the Estonian Youth Work Centre (since 01.08.2020 the Education and Youth Board). Main activities of the programme include:

• Developing an integrated system for supporting children and youth;
• Assessing the capability and readiness to support the children and youth at risk on the local level; Implementing the parenting programme;
• Implementing a family-based programme for juvenile offenders;
• Support for the increased capability of youth organizations and youth work organizations to involve children and youth at risk;
• Social inclusion of excluded young people and prevention of re-offending behaviour;
• Development and application of inclusive educational organization model and appropriate intervention strategies in the formal education system to improve the welfare of vulnerable groups of children and Youth;
• Community-based crime prevention measures; 
• Aftercare for incarcerated youth.

The range of target groups of the programme varies depending on the activity, mostly covering 7-18 years old in education, 7-26 years old in youth work, 0-18 in child protection, 7-18 in crime prevention and justice system.

The targets set in the programme compile a list of output indicators: number of regional-level coordination mechanisms created, number of regional support units established, number of local governments using community-based crime prevention measures, drop-out rate of students of forms 7-9 in basic school, number of youth work organizations and youth associations which apply measures for involving the children and youth belonging to vulnerable groups, number of youth work institutions which apply measures to involve the young people having committed offences and to prevent the repeated offences, number of young people that receive aftercare. Under the framework, the body responsible for implementation is also responsible for the collection of the data on indicators. There is a specific collection of data about the local governments involved in the implementation, but there is no specific additional system of gathering information and data about national organisations involved in the activities.

The levels of participation in the programme are described in the yearly reports of the programme and the following states most important numbers indicating the results in 2016:

• Under the Incredible Years 48 training groups for Russian (22) and Estonian (26) speaking parents were carried out.
• 5 teams under the multi-dimensional family therapy (MDFT) programme are currently working with young people and their families across Estonia. Close to 100 families and youngsters were engaged in MDFT in 2016.
• The regional level coordination mechanism has been created together with the Social Insurance Board (SIB) to provide support and services for children and families at the local level. 8 local governments with different size and capacity participating in the pilot project were selected.
• The number of local governments using community-based crime prevention measures is 12 and was expected to increase to 62 during the implementation of the programme. Altogether 66 LG-s have used community-based crime prevention measures during the implementation period.
• The number of youth work organizations and youth associations that apply measures to involve children and youths belonging to vulnerable groups is expected to increase from 36 to 90. During the reporting period, 120 youth work organizations and youth associations have applied measures to involve children and youth at risk.
• A number of youth work institutions that apply measures to involve young people who have committed offences and to prevent repeat offences is expected to increase from 0 to 18. During the reporting period, 20 youth work institutions have applied special youth-work-based programmes, which help young people.
• 8 youth associations improved their capacity do offer activities to young people at risk.
• The number of young people that receive aftercare during the projects implementation period is 329. 

Estonian Operational Programme

In the framework of the Estonian Operational Programme for EU Cohesion Policy Funds 2014-2020 a special investment priority “Active inclusion, including with a view to promoting equal opportunities and active participation, and improving employability” and under this priority a specific objective “Inclusion and improvement of the employability of young people, incl. those at risk of exclusion” was defined in December 2014. 4 specific sets of activities have been launched by the Government to achieve the objective:

1. Activities to support the decrease of the influence of unequal conditions, the prevention of exclusion and the employability of young people, including special support for NEET-young people: “Tõrjutusriskis noorte kaasamine ja noorte tööhõivevalmiduse parandamine”, reviewed legal base from July 2016; the responsible authority is the Ministry of Education and Research, responsible for the implementation is the Education and Youth Board.
2. Inclusion of young people with an offending background into the labour-market: “Toetuse andmise tingimused õigusrikkumise taustaga noorte tööturule kaasamiseks”, the legal base from January 2016; the responsible authority for the implementation and coordination is the Ministry of the Interior.
3. Providing opportunities for youth at risk via the programme SPIN: “Toetuse andmise tingimused noortele arenguvõimaluste pakkumiseks programme SPIN abil”, the legal base from July 2015; the responsible authority for the implementation and coordination is the Ministry of the Interior.
4. Activities to prevent risk behaviour and to develop better understanding of and suitable interventions for the problems of families at risk through networking and a secure living environment at the local level: „Toetuse andmise tingimused riskikäitumise ennetamiseks, riskis olevate perede toetamiseks ning turvalise elukeskkonna arendamiseks”,  legal base from September 2015; the responsible authority for the implementation and coordination is the Ministry of the Interior.

The interventions include youth work services made available to young people at risk of poverty and exclusion and support for participation in programmes that help to acquire the knowledge and skills needed for life and personal development; support measures for reintegration of NEETs in education and/or their successful entry to the labour market,  outreach youth work and other interventions of local networks so as to encourage such young people to acquire knowledge and skills or enter the labour market. In order to better understand the problems of young people and design systematic interventions, it is intended to identify and resolve, through networking, the problems of the target group, including minors and families, and to promote healthy lifestyles and a secure living environment at the local level. To support the activities described above, the competence of youth workers, youth leaders and hobby school workers for working with young people is supported. Support is provided for consistent evaluation of methodologies and monitoring of the situation of young people.  The interventions have been designed taking into account the combined effect of the activities to be carried out in the spheres of education, youth and employment.

There are specific indicators set to measure the output of the activities by 2023 such as the total number of participants in youth work services, number of NEETs (aged 15–26) who have received services, number of young people at risk who have received services and number of people benefitting from networking services. Under the framework the body responsible for implementation (see above) is also responsible for the collection of the data on indicators. There is no specific additional system of gathering information and data about national organizations involved in the activities established under the framework of the Operational Programme.

The levels of participation in the programme are described in the yearly reports of the programme and the following states most important numbers indicating the results in 2015:

Source: monitoring reports of the relevant activities 2015.

Funding

There is a dedicated funding allocated by the Government for the programmes supporting the inclusion of young people. The programmes are in line with prioritised goals in strategies related to fighting social exclusion of youth.

The funding of the programmes in euros:

The variations in the budgets of programmes are planned i.e. are based on annual activity plans that are approved by the responsible ministry and amended yearly.

Quality assurance

All the programmes described are subject to the detailed multi-layered quality assurance mechanism established by the financial instrument these programmes are financed by i.e.

1. Programme “Children and youth at risk”
   1. The Ministry of Education and Research as the Programme Operator provides financial reports, annual programme reports and a final programme report. There was a set of Expected Outcomes & Indicators for Outputs established in the Addendum to the Programme Agreement for the financing of the Programme "Children and Youth at Risk" monitored on yearly bases. Please consult the description of the programmes above for an overview of the indicators and outputs.
2. Activities under the Operational Programme
   1. There is a Performance framework of the Operational Programme established in the programme, which involves a set of indicators to be monitored, EU structural assistance is also subject to the 2014-2020 Structural Assistance Act, which specifies conditions for monitoring and appraisal of the Operational Programme. There is a system of evaluation planned (ex-ante, mid-term and final evaluation); no evaluations specifically relating to the activities supporting inclusion of young people and described above have been conducted by the end of 2016. Please consult the description of the programmes above for an overview of the indicators and outputs.