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1. Governance

2. Main actors

Governance

The Order on Description of the Organization of the Youth Voluntary Service which was adopted in 2018 defines the principles of organization of youth volunteering in Lithuania, its implementation organization of their work and financing of volunteering activities.

The volunteering activities are not strictly regulated. The Law on Volunteering (article 6) provides that the following may be organizers of voluntary work: charity and assistance funds; budgetary institutions; associations; public establishments; religious communities, associations and religious centres; branches and representative offices of international public organizations; embassies; political parties; trade unions; other legal persons whose activities are governed by specific laws that are non-profit seeking and where any surplus obtained cannot be distributed amongst the participants. The governmental authority responsible for implementing  the Law on Volunteering is the Ministry of Social Security and Labour. According to the Law on Volunteering, volunteer activity organizer and a volunteer are required to sign a written agreement  if volunteer work will be pursued 5 or more days in a row. If  voluntary work will be pursued for more than 30 days volunteering-related expenses are subject to reimbursement. 

Main actors

The main public actors in youth volunteering is the Agency of Youth Affairs. The main non-public actors in youth volunteering in Lithuania are The Non-Governmental Organisation Information and Support Centre (NISC). The Non-Governmental Organisation Information and Support Centre has the strategic goal of the development of volunteer sector, preparation and implementation of legal proposals related to volunteer activities, promoting greater awareness about volunteering. Information websites such as www.cv.lt/savanoriskas-darbas, http://www.zinauviska.lt/savanoriauk-lietuvoje, https://savaplatforma.lt/, http://www.savanoriai.org/lt/savanoryste/, http://kulturossavanoriai.lt provide various links and information on volunteering organizations and activities available in Lithuania and abroad.

The Order on Description of the Organization of the Youth Voluntary Service defines the types and functions of voluntary organizations. The host organization is a non-profit legal entity registered in the Republic of Lithuania (an organizer of a voluntary service) that is capable of facilitating the development of volunteers in a personal or professional area and ensuring their support.  A volunteer is a young person who performs gratis activities for the benefit of society in the host organization. The organization providing voluntary services (SVO, savanorystės organizacija)  is an accredited non-governmental organization operating in the Republic of Lithuania, which can provide volunteer participation in volunteering activities, co-operation with the host organizations, provide methodological support to the host organizations for the assessment and evaluation of competencies acquired by the volunteer during volunteering. 

Cross-sectorial cooperation

Stakeholder consultations are legally required for amendments or drafting new policy. However, the law does not specify that evidence should be collected. Policy-makers can decide whether research findings should be included in policy proposals and how this is done. The institutions that formally participate in the policy-making process usually include dedicated research agencies, evaluation/testing agencies, research and statistical departments, youth organisations, national statistics offices, think tanks and consultants. Likewise, representatives of NGOs, businesses and trade unions, and other interested parties can take part in the public policy-making process by providing comments in the public hearings and in parliamentary committees, to which these actors have free access.