Forthcoming policy developments

The most significant development expected is the official adoption and publication of the next National Volunteer Strategy. Although the professional preparation and social consultation have been completed, the finalisation of the document and its approval by the government are still in progress.

Based on information provided by the Ministry in 2026, beyond domestic developments, Hungary is also actively contributing to the international policy landscape. While there are no specific plans to expand humanitarian volunteering, the government has proposed several elements for the upcoming EU Strategy on Intergenerational Fairness. These proposals, based on successful domestic and international best practices, aim to strengthen intergenerational cohesion through initiatives where young people provide assistance and support to the elderly, thereby fostering social solidarity and mutual care across different age groups.

Ongoing debates

According to the Ministry information in 2025 and 2026 the Hungarian youth volunteering sector is currently characterised by several professional and social debates that fundamentally determine (future) developments. The core questions of these discussions involve how to improve the quality of volunteer coordination and the popularity of volunteering, as well as the specific role the state should play in these processes.

A key issue is raising the social status of volunteering. The Ministry of Culture and Innovation places special emphasis on ensuring that volunteers feel how useful and important their contribution is, which they perform by sacrificing their free time for the benefit of society. The focus of the discourse between decision-makers and professional organisations is that volunteering should not be viewed as 'free work', but rather as a socially constructive phenomenon that strengthens intergenerational cooperation and contributes to the functioning of the economy.

Based on observations by the Ministry, there is an ongoing debate about how to reach young people more effectively. While the 40–49-year-olds (the parents' generation) remains an active base, the motivational factors for young people have shifted: instead of parental role models, peer groups (peer-to-peer) have become more important. Professional dialogue is seeking answers to how these peer mechanisms can be incorporated into official government programs.

A new element in policy debates is the impact of volunteering on individual well-being. Experts are examining how volunteering can help improve young people's mental health, develop empathy, and reduce social isolation in the post-pandemic and digital environment. The sector also strives to find evidence-based answers to these questions by incorporating these topics into volunteering-related research whenever possible. There is ongoing discourse on how volunteering can become an experience accessible to all young people, regardless of their social or economic background. In this context, incentives (such as admission point systems and credits) that can help involve disadvantaged or less educated young people in organized (formal) volunteer programmes are being examined.