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1. Quality assurance

2. Research and evidence supporting Youth Work

3. Participate Youth Work

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

Quality assurance

In 2024, the Ministry of Education and Science published the methodological material “A Unified Quality Framework for Youth Work in Municipalities” to support municipalities in carrying out their autonomous function of implementing youth work and to promote equal access to high-quality youth services for young people across all municipalities in Latvia.

The Unified Quality Framework was developed on the basis of the Ministry’s visits to municipalities conducted in 2021–2023, as well as the Children, Youth and Family Development Guidelines for 2022–2027 and the State Audit Office’s audit “Public Participation – an Untapped Opportunity for Quality Decision-Making in Municipalities” (2023). With the introduction of this framework, the Ministry’s previously developed “General Indicators for the Evaluation of Youth Work in Municipalities” (2009) are no longer considered current.

The framework was developed at the beginning of 2024 in cooperation with youth field professionals from across Latvia. The municipalities of Jūrmala State City and Madona Municipality participated in testing the framework, providing valuable recommendations and feedback for its improvement.

In the framework, the self-assessment criteria are divided into compliance criteria and quality criteria, and it includes four sections: the establishment and development of a high-quality and sustainable youth work system; staff involved in youth work; the promotion of youth participation; and the implementation of youth work. The methodological material also includes several annexes that may contribute to improving the quality of youth work in municipalities, such as a sample job description for a youth affairs specialist, sample by-laws for a youth council, a youth consultative commission, and a youth centre, as well as explanations of the terms most commonly used in the youth field.

European Charter on Local Youth Work (responsible for the implementation: National Agency)

Latvian National Agency was one of the partners in Erasmus+ strategic cooperation project “Europe Goes Local”, this project produced the European Charter on Local Youth Work as one of its main outcomes.

Quality Criteria for youth center work (developed by organization Baltijas Regionalais Fonds, popularized by Ministry of Education and Science)

A national organization "Baltijas Regionalais Fonds" participated in project developing  “High Quality for Youth Centers” with partners from Estonia, Latvia, Hungary and Spain.  

The four partners of this project (CJCV, BRF, EDELA EESTI and ISOS) worked for 24 months team to design an ideal youth centre-space manual, with presence both online and offline.

Research and evidence supporting Youth Work

Once a year the Ministry of Education and Science of Latvia studies the situation in municipalities (surveying municipalities), asking representatives of municipalities to send information about youth work at local level – institutions involved, planning documents developed, NGOs active in the field, main statistical data about youth, etc.

Information about youth policy and other related information, as well as statistical data and researches on different youth issues, is published on the website of the Ministry of Education and Science.

Website of the Ministry of Education and Science: in Latvian | in English 

The portal serves as a guide where wide-ranging information on youth policy is available. Information and links to access necessary and interested information on different themes, such as youth employment possibilities, education, involvement, culture, sport, etc. are also available in the portal. Additionally, there are a youth organisations database and a youth affairs co-ordinators database that include contact information.

Portal of youth issues: in Latvian | in English

The database of researches and publications collects all studies, publications and methodologies of public institutions starting from 2000. Besides, a list of perspective studies, publications and methodologies planned for the two years ahead is also available in the database.

Database of researches and publications available on the website of the State Chancellery in Latvian

Statistical databases about social, economic, environment and other issues are freely available on the website of the Central Statistical Bureau. Although youth statistics are not grouped as a separate category of the database, by selecting data by age parameters, it is possible to obtain varied information about youth target group.

Databases of the Central Statistical Bureau: in Latvian | in English

Participative Youth Work

Section 7 of the Youth Law on the "Participation of Young People in the Development and Implementation of Youth Policy" states that Young People have the right to participate in the development and implementation of youth policy by:

1) engaging in non-formal education and volunteering;

2) acting in self-government groups in educational institutions;

3) developing and implementing projects as well as other initiatives;

4) participating in youth organizations, as well as other associations and foundations;

5) being involved in the state and local government decision-making process  that are influencing implementation of youth policy ;

6) engaging in other activities aimed at promoting the participation of young people in the design and implementation of youth policy.

Smart youth work: youth work in the digital world

In order to enable young people and those involved in youth work to take full advantage of the benefits of digital youth work, much attention is being paid to issues such as digital and media literacy in the country.

The knowledge and skills of youth professionals and youth workers is an important resource for developing media literacy among young people. Taking into account that the training of youth specialists and youth workers is provided by the Ministry of Education and Science, since 2018 the Ministry of Education and Science has included media literacy in the training of these specialists. The mentioned training is provided in cooperation with the support of specialists of the Ministry of Culture.

Media literacy issues are included in the content of both formal and non-formal education. For example, in April 2018, pupils in grades 3 and 6 were given the opportunity to perform diagnostic work, organized by the Latvian Safer Internet Center and the National Center for Education, dedicated to assessing pupils' knowledge and skills in Internet safety and media literacy.

In addition, in 2018, media projects managed by the Society Integration Fund and the National Regional Development Agency supported 20 projects in categories such as lie deconstruction, promotion of media literacy and media criticism.

In order to develop young people's creative technical thinking and change their role from technology consumers to "critical" creators, Latvia is focusing on STEM programs at all levels and levels of education, including both formal and non-formal education.

For example, various social education projects aimed at developing digital skills among young people have been established and are successfully operating in Latvia. One such project and good practice in the area of ​​cooperation between public and private entrepreneurs is the Start (IT) project implemented by the Start (IT) Education Foundation. The aim of this project is to develop pupils' digital skills and to promote advanced computer and digital skills in schools. The Foundation is one of the successful examples of cooperation between the private and public sectors, showing that companies in the country are interested in engaging in the development of state-of-the-art curricula. The Start Foundation (IT) offers everyone the opportunity to learn free computer science and programming, which is currently used by more than 24,000 teachers and students across Latvia. This portal provides students, students and teachers with digital curricula and educational materials. The materials developed by the Foundation are used by both educators and students in more than 300 schools in Latvia.

The Foundation has produced and offers materials for active use such as Introduction to Programming, Computer Security, Virtual Reality, Android Mobile Application Development, Robotics, 3D Modeling and Printing. With the help of the project, employees of the largest IT companies in Latvia have the opportunity to become school mentors. These mentors lead guest lectures on trends, challenges and innovations in the IT industry, and help teachers incorporate technology into the learning process. In 2018, UNESCO has included Start (IT) in the list of top 12 IT education projects among 195 UNESCO member states.