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1. Governance

2. Cross-sectoral cooperation

 Governance

There is no governmental authority directly responsible for youth work. More than this, no national policy or strategy dedicated to youth work was put in place. Youth work and the development of the domain was part of the Youth Strategy 2015-2020, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports was the governmental authority taking action on that especially through the national granting schemes for youth NGOs.

Youth work would then fall under the remit of ministry that is responsible for youth, but considering the types of activities developed – especially the ones where non-formal learning instruments and tools are used – education is also one of the key domains. More than this, going back to the main function of youth work - that of helping young people to reach their full personal and professional potential, matters related to social affairs, social justice and family welfare should be considered within the governance structure.

Consequently, the main top-level governmental authorities responsible for youth work are the following:

1. The Ministry of Youth and Sports (until December 2021), the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities (until December 2024), the Minsitry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity since January 2025.
2. Ministry of Education
3. National Agency for Community Programmes in the Field of Education and Vocational Training 

Non-governmental organisations participate in the policy making in the field of youth work as consultative structures for the governmental using two main methods: 

1. the National Council For Youth (NCFY) created in 2020 as an advisory body for the Ministry of Youth and Sports, composed by 60 representatives of youth civil society organisations (presented in section 5.3 of Youth Wiki). The council has a committee dedicated to culture and recreational activities for young people, including youth work activities, and a committee dedicated to infrastructure for youth work (youth centres and youth camp infrastructure etc.);
2. ad-hoc consultative meetings.

Concerning the general distribution of responsibilities, the main governance approach to youth works is the following since January 2025 (when the Minsitry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity replaced the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities):

1. The Minsitry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity is dealing with the policy design, monitoring and evaluation in youth policy, in general, and also with measures related to social inclusion, social justice and the general framework on youth policies;
2. Ministry of Education is dealing with elements of validation of learning including the recognition of non-formal education learning paths;
3. National Agency for Community Programmes in the Field of Education and Vocational Training is dealing mainly with the youth workers’ training through its own local and national initiatives as well as through the international training activities developed on partnership basis with the other National Agencies or supporting the participation.

Cross-sectoral cooperation  

No existing mechanism of cross-sectorial cooperation between Ministries, Departments, Agencies involved in defining policies and measures on youth work are established in Romania.