5.6 Supporting youth organisations
Legal/policy framework for the functioning and development of youth organizations
• The Law on Non-governmental Organizations https://www.paragraf.me/propisi-crnegore/zakon-o-nevladinim-organizacijama.html deals with the right of association, with special emphasis on the rights of young people aged over 14 years to establish an NGO, with the consent of their legal guardian. This creates additional legal presumptions for active involvement of young people in social life, enabling high-school students to formalize their emerging participation initiatives. The Strategy of Government Cooperation with NGOs (Action Plan 2009-2011) addresses the issue of participation through some of its general objectives, such as improvement of the normative-legal framework for the establishment and operation of NGOs; and improving the institutional framework for co-operation with NGOs.
• The Volunteer Work Law https://www.gov.me/dokumenta/506a88a7-b783-46cb-a1ee-1151014ad9f9 regulates the object of this legislation, the concept of volunteering, rights and duties of volunteers, volunteer organizers and users of voluntary services, the ban on discrimination against volunteers and beneficiaries of volunteer work, length of volunteer work, activities that are not considered as voluntary work, conditions for the conclusion and termination of contract on voluntary work; effect of the agreement for voluntary work on the basis of unemployment status for international volunteers, volunteer insurance, establishment of volunteer services, supervision over the implementation of this law and other issues of importance to the development of volunteerism. The law is harmonized with European legislation and international conventions. As regards voluntary work, two regulations have been adopted: Regulation on the form of volunteer booklet (“Official Gazette of Montenegro” No. 33/11) and Rulebook on the procedure for keeping records of contracts of volunteer work (“Official Gazette of Montenegro” No. 33/11).
The civil sector in the area of working with youth32 is much broader than what can be seen from the official data and reports, because the practice of reporting in Montenegro, and the legislation itself, do not recognize the broadness of the civil sector, instead mentioning only non-governmental organizations in this area and leaving out all the other actors of civil society that are founded by or are working with young people. The information on the ratio of youth CSO to the total number of CSOs is not available due to the system of registration of non-governmental organizations in Montenegro.33
Public financial support
I
n the first youth policy cycle (NYAP 2009-2011), the Directorate for Youth and Sports (now the Ministry of Sports and Youth) has financially supported youth organizations through annual open calls for projects, and thus financed more than 70 projects with €280 000. From 2012, due to the new Law on NGOs, this mechanism was cut, since governmental institutions are forbidden to launch an open call for funding projects from their respective fields of action. According to the new Law on NGOs, there is only one centralized fund for NGO projects. The DYS has furthermore implemented most of its activities in partnership with NGOs and is recognized as an open, transparent, proactive, partnership-oriented body. The Ministry of Sports and Youth and the Directorate for Youth in Montenegro during 2017/2018 issued an annual open call to award funding for youth organizations for financing and co-financing youth projects, in accordance with Article 30 of the Law on Youth (2016),34 and Articles 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9 of the Rulebook on the Manner, Procedure and Criteria for Assigning Funds to Youth Organizations and Control over the Implementation of Programmes and Projects (Official Gazette of Montenegro No. 23/2017).35 Through this open call, the Ministry of Sports and Youth financed projects focusing on promotion, development and improvement of youth policy at the national and local level; entrepreneurship, development of youth work, youth information, non-formal education of young people and for participation of young people in decision making.
The Revised Law on Youth (2019) has changed the funding schemes, while in 2019 €100 000 has been allocated (in total) to support youth NGOs.
In 2017, the Directorate for Youth supported 36 projects (€170 000 in total) and for 2018 the budget is much higher than in 2016. In 2018, there were several open calls for projects of the Ministry of Sports and Youth relevant for youth participation. The total number of youth projects supported in 2018 was 86 according to the Law on Youth 2016 (€400 000) and 10 according to the Law on NGOs (€111 000). For example:
• Open Call for NGOs “Get together for the young”36
Pursuant to Article 32v of the Law on Non-Governmental Organisations (Official Gazette of Montenegro Nos. 39/11 and 37/17), in connection with the Decision on Determining Priority Areas of Public Interest and the Amount of Funds for Financing Projects and Programmes of Non-Governmental Organisations in 2018 (Official Gazette of Montenegro No. 83/17) and the Rulebook on Contents of the Public Competition for the Allocation of Funds for Financing Projects and Programmes of Non-Governmental Organizations and the Appearance and Contents of Application to Public Competition (Official Gazette of Montenegro No. 14/18), the Commission for the allocation of funds for financing projects/programmes of non-governmental organizations of the Ministry of Sports and Youth announced the public competition “Get together for youth” for financing projects/programmes of non-governmental organizations in the areas of social care for young people and civil society development and volunteerism. NGOs which have the capacity for and experience in implementing projects for young people are invited to apply with projects/programmes that can contribute to the realization of objectives and goals established by the Law on Youth and the Youth Strategy 2017-2021 in the areas of social care for young people and the development of civil society and volunteerism.
Initiatives to increase the diversity of participants
To promote the participation of more and a greater diversity of young people in representative democracy, in youth organizations and other civil society organizations, measures/initiatives were taken after the EU Youth Strategy came into force (and onwards) through financing youth organization projects. The Directorate for Youth maintains strong criteria when it comes to target groups’ diversity as well as youth participation in the project.
• Open Call for NGOs “Active for active youth”
In 2018, an Open Call for Projects of the Ministry of Sports and Youth https://www.gov.me/dokumenta/672c2381-899c-4e37-8f38-fdb7a13812c1 focused on the area of social care and participation of young people. Pursuant to Article 32 of the Law on Non-Governmental Organizations https://wapi.gov.me/download/534bda2c-ed48-4c10-8ce6-1fc630be680b?version=1. (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 39/11 and 37/17), Article 2 and 3 of the Decision on Determining Priority Areas of Public Interest and the Amount of Funds for Financing Projects and Programmes of Non-Governmental Organizations in 2019 (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 080/18) and the Rulebook on Contents of the Public Competition for the Allocation of Funds for Financing Projects and the programmes of non-governmental organizations and the appearance and content of the application for a public competition (Official Gazette of Montenegro No. 14/18), the Commission for the allocation of funds for financing projects/programmes of non-governmental organizations in the field of social care of youth, the Ministry of Sports and Youth and Youth announces the Public Competition “Active for Active Youth” to fund projects/programmes of non-governmental organizations in the field of social care for young people. Priority problems in the field of social care for young people whose resolution is planned by financing projects/programmes of non-governmental organizations are focused on the shortfall: engagement of young people in all areas of interest for young people, especially young people at risk of discriminatory behavior; activities and involvement of young people in decision making processes, policy making and their implementation; informing young people about the possibilities of acquiring additional knowledge and skills, especially in the field of youth entrepreneurship; young people’s confidence in existing mechanisms that enable them to participate more actively in the decision-making process.