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1. National Programme for Youth Volunteering

2. Funding

3. Characteristics of youth volunteering

4. Support to young volunteers

5. Target groups

National Programme for Youth Volunteering

There is no dedicated national programme for youth volunteering but a significant activity for youth volunteering at the national level was the Year of Volunteering in Hungary.

For the 20^th anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers (2001) and the 10^th anniversary of the European Year of Volunteering (2011), the Year of Volunteering in Hungary (Önkéntesség Magyarországi Éve) was organised in 2021. The general aim was to raise awareness of the importance of volunteering and to bring together the three essential sectors (civil society, the government and the business).

The main aim of the programme was to promote volunteering and involve as many people and target groups as possible in volunteering activities. In the thematic year, several events were organised, including thematic weeks, an international conference, an online academic volunteering conference, and a series of 'Volunteers of the Week'.

The government also linked the World Day of Youth (A fiatalok világnapja) (12 August) to the Year of Volunteering. The Deputy State Secretariat for Young People also highlighted the importance of social responsibility in voluntary activities as one of the objectives of World Day of Youth.

Funding

The National Cooperation Fund (Nemzeti Együttműködési Alap) is the most relevant actor worth mentioning, as an actor that can also provide support for youth volunteering projects. (Also see 2.2 Administration and governance of youth volunteering.)

Characteristics of youth volunteering

Research report of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office

There is only a little information available on youth volunteering. The most recent data comes from the research report (2016) of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, which shows that the participation rate in voluntary activities varies between 24.6% and 33.8% among under 35-year-olds.

Other research reports on youth volunteering

There are also some other research reports on youth volunteering. According to the results of the 'Voluntarism in Hungary 2018' (Önkéntesség Magyarországon 2018) survey, the proportion of young people volunteering was in a slightly increasing trend: one third of the surveyed young people indicated that they had done volunteer activities in the past year and another ten per cent said that they had had some experience, if not in the past year, then in the past.

According to the results of the Hungarian Youth 2020 (Magyar Fiatalok 2020) survey, eight per cent of young people aged 15-29 did volunteer activities in the year before the 2020 survey. According to a study from 2023 (it is a secondary data analysis of the Hungarian Youth 2020 survey database), the low rate of volunteers was probably due to the pandemic and technical and methodological reasons. The study shows that the different wording of the questions asked in the various surveys and the context in which the issue of volunteering is raised vary considerably from one study to another (Gyorgyovich, 2023).

Support to young volunteers

Since there is no youth volunteering strategy or programme, there is currently no dedicated support for youth volunteering.

Target groups

Volunteer Act

There is no standalone law on youth volunteering but the Article 5 article of the Act LXXXVIII of 2005 on Public Interest Volunteer Activities (Volunteer Act) (2005. évi LXXXVIII. törvény) covers some legal aspects of youth volunteering for young people under the age of 18 and 16.

Those under 18 can carry out voluntary activities corresponding to their age, physical, mental and moral maturity and do not constitute a risk to their health, development and performance of school attendance obligations. There are also protective restrictions regarding the volunteering hours: they should not pursue public interest volunteer activities between 8 pm and 6 am.

A volunteer under the age of 16 may not carry out public interest volunteer activities abroad. The time spent on public interest volunteer activities is also determined for them. They should not work more than

• 3 hours per day and 12 hours per week during vacation,
• 6 hours per week during school time, in details
• 2 hours per day on school days and
• 3 hours per day on non-school days.

There are also differences in defining the age groups as young people. The National Volunteer Strategy 2012-2020 (Nemzeti Önkéntes Stratégia 2012-2020) defines young people as individuals between the ages of 18 and 26. In contrast, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office in its research report identifies them as individuals under the age of 35.