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1. Quality assurance

2. Research and evidence supporting Youth Work

3. Participative Youth Work

4. Smart youth work: youth work in the digital world

Quality assurance

There is no quality assurance system that is specific to youth work programmes. The system which was closest to it was the monitoring process of the Complex Youth Developments – New Generation Reloaded (Komplex ifjúsági fejlesztések – Új Nemzedék Újratöltve) HRDOP project which was closed at the end of 2022. The relevant indicators of the project were the following: 

• number of participants younger than 25 years of age (20 000),
• number of local communities served (570).

Besides this, probably the most elaborate quality assurance of youth work (which overlaps with research) relates to Erasmus+ Youth, the Hungarian implementation of RAY (Research-based Analysis of Erasmus+/YiA) carried out by Rubeus Foundation (Rubeus Egyesület) with the coordination of the Tempus Public Foundation.

Research and evidence supporting Youth Work

There is no specific research on youth work and as such youth work policies are not regularly evaluated on the basis of research. In general, it is difficult to obtain data on youth work as the concept is often mixed with volunteering and youth participation. However, the regular large sample youth researches (see sub-chapter 1.6) include questions related to youth services. This enables practitioners and policymakers to estimate the accessibility of and needs for youth services.

Research of the GYIÖT

In 2023, GYIÖT conducted a non-representative survey among youth work professionals in which 330 people took part. One conclusion was that both the representation and the daily work of those working in this profession is severely limited by the availability of resources. This applies in particular to financial resources and thus, the lack of infrastructure and human resources. The creation, maintenance and effective operation of professional communities of interest is difficult because of the

• lack of experience, 
• shortage of professionals,
• lack of motivation, and 
• the resulting workload.

More than half of respondents work for NGOs, suggesting that the engagement of community and state actors can be strengthened. Activities in NGOs and other contexts place more emphasis on active citizenship education and support young age group in dealing with the difficulties. In contrast, the objectives in municipal and state organisations/institutions focus more on providing meaningful leisure activities for youth. The most important issue in the youth profession is the political and social recognition of youth work.

In addition, the Ministry of Culture and Innovation provided the information that they will initiate a research project in 2024 to map the conditions of youth workers (including those at the beginning of their careers). According to the ministry, this could form a basis for the development of youth work.

Participative Youth Work

As mentioned before, a typical way of how youth work is organised is based on organic grassroots initiatives. (Please see sub-chapter 10.2 Administration and governance of youth work for details.) 

Top-level approaches often focus on youth participation (see sub-chapter 5.3 and sub-chapter 5.4). Besides this, the only top-level authority related to youth policy is currently the Board of the Children and Youth Fund (Gyermek és Ifjúsági Alapprogram Tanácsa), and the National Youth Council (Nemzeti Ifjúsági Tanács) is involved in channelling the interests of youth organisations. The Council has 2 plenary meetings per year and consultations in the capital and in the countryside on a project basis where local decision-makers and young people can have a dialogue on specific issues. Targeted consultation specifically to youth work policies do not exist.

Smart youth work: youth work in the digital world

The webpage 'http://www.unp.hu/' worked as a professional site targeted for youth workers and youth experts. It functioned as a knowledge base, and a networking tool has been developed, where a database of youth experts and a resource map of local youth services was published. The website still operate but is not any more updated regularly in 2023 because of the termination of the role of the Fund.

Besides this, the Digital Child Protection Strategy (see sub-chapter 6.8), which is now coordinated by the Governmental Information-Technology Development Agency (see sub-chapter 10.2), aims to create a safer online environment for children and young people. Activities in this regard are often coordinated with the youth protection goals of the Hungarian National Police Headquarters.