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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

 A National Program on Youth Volunteering is still not adopted by the Government of Republic of North Macedonia. Each individual organizer of voluntary work needs to conduct Program on Volunteering according to the Law on Volunteerism which was also amended in May 2021. The organizer of volunteering determines the need of engagement of volunteers, types of services and manner of providing them, based on a program for volunteering. There is internal document within the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, Registry of Volunteers set within Regulations on form, content and methodology for the register on persons engaged with agreement on volunteering, with data on active volunteers nationwide (volunteers that have signed the voluntary contract with organizer of voluntary work). Responsible for implementation of the Law on Volunteerism is the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. 

Funding

Each organizer of Volunteer Work provides its own funding from domestic sponsors, company/organizational budget, international funding organizations, programs and donors. Nevertheless, when public institutions have the role as organizers of volunteer work, according to Law for Transformation Into Permanent Employment, article 7; Institutions engage volunteers with contract for volunteering after obtaining consent from the Ministry of Finance, furthermore they need to provide certificate from the Registry of volunteers during the volunteering issued by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. Institutions that are second-line budget users (spending units, financed through the appropriate budget user) need to request consent submitted to the competent authority, i.e. first line budget user.

Characteristics of youth volunteering

The latest data about youth volunteering are according to the research Youth Trends in Republic of North Macedonia in 2022. The research shows significant percentage of youth (78.6%) stated that they consider youth participation and volunteer work to be beneficial for young people, compared to 4% who disagree with that and 17.4% who have no opinion. "Among the participants who agreed with the statement that youth participation and volunteer work are beneficial for a young person, the lowest percentage is among those aged 15-19, and the highest among those aged 25-29."

Support to young volunteers

According to Law on Volunteerism, Organizers of Volunteer work in the Republic of North Macedonia are obliged to cover the compensation of the previously agreed expenses related to volunteering (cost of food, transportation costs ‘to and from’ the place of volunteering, expenses for official travels and training expenses). Furthermore, the reimbursement of expenses for food and transportation costs ‘to and from’ the place of volunteering is paid up to 15% of the average monthly salary in the country, for the previous year and the cost of official travel and training costs are paid in the same amount as for employees of the organizer of volunteering. Volunteers stationed in the Republic of North Macedonia regardless of citizenship, shall be entitled to accommodation, health insurance and travel reimbursement.

Target groups

The legislation on volunteering in North Macedonia targets all citizens, domestic and foreign, who are willing to volunteer, and domestic institutions and organizations in the role of organizers of volunteering service. The law forbids discrimination upon race, skin color, gender, age, health condition (disability), and religious, political or other believes, national or social origin, family status, property status, gender orientation or any other personal circumstances.

Any domestic or foreign individual may be a volunteer. Also the Law enables minors (15 - 18) to commit volunteer activity with parental / guardian written agreement.

As organizers of volunteering service might appear: civil society organization or foundation; religious community or group; public institution; state body; local self-government unit and the City of Skopje. The organizer is responsible for defining the need of volunteer engagement, type and procedures for committing the services according to volunteering program.