On this page

1. Existence of a National Youth Strategy

2. Scope and contents

3. Responsible authority for the implementation of the Youth Strategy

4. Revisions/updates

Existence of a National Youth Strategy

A National Youth Policy Strategy 2015-2020 (Strategia Nationala în domeniul politicii de tineret 2015-2020) was adopted by the Romanian Government, by Government Decision, in 2015. The Youth Strategy covered the timeframe 2015-2020. A new Youth Strategy for the next period was not adopted by the Romanian Government until March 2022.

Scope and contents

Summary

The Youth Strategy 2015-2020 aimed at supporting youth to participate to the economic, social, cultural and political life, ensuring equal opportunities to education, employment and decent life conditions to all youth, including vulnerable youth groups.

The Strategy integrated several policy domains in 5 main pillars/key areas of intervention:

1. culture and non-formal education;
2. health, sports and leisure;
3. participation and volunteering;
4. employment and entrepreneurship;
5. the social inclusion of young people.

Key objectives

Under each of the 5 key areas of intervention of the strategy, specific objectives and lines of actions were established. However, an action plan allowing systematic implementation of the strategy, monitoring and evaluation the strategy, was not adopted.

1. Under the pillar culture and non-formal education, the specific objectives of the strategy were:

• Ensure access to quality formal and non-formal training and education for all adolescents and young people;
• Improve the non-formal education offer;
• Raise young people’s interest in participating in non-formal education activities;
• Ensure more practical relevance of the skills acquired through formal and non-formal education;
• Facilitate youth access to quality culture and cultural creation;
• Improve funding of cultural activities;
• Support youth health and quality of life and prevent injuries, eating disorders, substance use and addiction.

2. Under the pillar health, sports and leisure, the specific objectives of the strategy were:

• Support youth health and quality of life and prevent injuries, eating disorders, substance use and addiction;
• Deliver education through sports and physical activity with the aim of fostering a healthy lifestyle and development as active and responsible citizens, and encourage young people to engage in sports and exercise in their spare time;
• Improve leisure time opportunities for young people through both organised and informal means.

3. Under the pillar participation and volunteering, the specific objectives of the strategy were:

• Increase youth participation in community life, in all its social, educational, cultural, economic and health aspects;
• Increase youth participation in political life;
• Increase participation of youth-led and youth-serving non-governmental organisations in the structured dialogue;
• Create an environment that fosters volunteering in Romania;
• Improve the system of volunteer work certification and public recognition;
• Raise public awareness of the importance of volunteer engagement;

4. Under the pillar employment and entrepreneurship, the specific objectives of the strategy were:

4.1. For employment

• Increase youth employment, with a focus on the 15-24 and 25-29 age groups;
• Promote existing legal measures in favour of youth to ensure a smooth transition from education to the labour market;
• Promote and support work-life balance for youth;
• Stimulate youth mobility on the domestic labour market;
• Foster Romanian young people’s mobility on the European labour market, including through programmes that combine work and training and through integration programmes, in the post-pilot phase of the ‘Your first EURES job’ Programme;
• Ensure better opportunities for youth access to and retention on the labour market through acquisition and development of skills and competences;
• Develop social economy and increase youth participation in this area.

4.2. For entrepreneurship

• Increase self-employment among young people;
• Increase self-employment among young people in rural area;
• Promote entrepreneurship at all youth education and training levels;
• Help young entrepreneurs adjust to European integration and globalisation processes;

5. Specific objectives for the strategy contribution to social inclusion were:

• Promote inclusive measures for youth with the aim of facilitating access to the formal labour market;
• Direct non-formal education at the social reintegration of socially excluded youth, maintain or restore access to formal education while effectively promoting non-formal and informal learning and the recognition of acquired competences;
• Promote equal access to health for young people, maintain free access to the basic healthcare package, and improve the quality of medical procedures benefiting children and youth in difficulty;
• Promote the ‘voice’ of and empower the poor communities with high shares of children and young people, as well as the socially excluded youth;
• Re-launch policies that combat poverty and promote social inclusion in Romania, with a focus on youth and children, to reduce any gaps accumulated in the early life stages which can adversely affect an individual’s entire future course and be difficult to offset later on;
• Develop new programmes aimed at building or retrofitting social housing so as to enable the implementation of the legal provisions that entitle disadvantaged young people to a dwelling;
• Create and implement special support measures for socially vulnerable youth groups, in partnership with all the competent institutions from all sectors.

Target groups

The target group of the strategy were young people in general, defined accordingly to the Youth Lawin Romania, between 14 and 35. Moreover, the Strategy defined clearly specific target groups within each of the 5 key areas of intervention.

Responsible authority for the implementation of the Youth Strategy

The Ministry of Youth and Sports was the main government authority responsible for the implementation, coordination and monitoring of the national Youth Strategy. It was in charge with:

• drafting the Action Plan of the Strategy
• drafting and implementing a monitoring and evaluation plan of the Strategy
• designing and implementing the actions under the key area of intervention on participation and volunteering
• designing and implementing the actions under specific objectives related to non-formal education, sport and leisure

An action plan allowing systematic implementation of the strategy, monitoring and evaluation the strategy, was not adopted.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports was transformed in December 2021 in the Ministry of Sport. All its responsibilities regarding the development of the youth strategy post 2021 have been transferred to the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities.

Revisions/updates

The Youth Strategy 2015-2020 have been preceded by the National Action Plan for Youth (PNA-T) 2001 and its revised version for 2005-2008. Their evaluation has been done by the Institute for Educational Sciences in 2011.

The PNA-T 2001 was designed in order to stimulate youth participation to the economic and social life as well as to come up with a set of measures aiming to reduce marginalization and social exclusion. The Plan starts with a socio-economic analysis of the situation and concludes that the main risk factors when it comes to the youth group are the following: the regional disparities, the quality of life, poverty, youth unemployment, lack of access to education, delinquency and corruption. The main groups affected by these factors are: rural youth, unemployed youth, young girls, early school drop outs. It is highlighted the need to stimulate youth participation to the economic, civil, political and cultural life and, in order to follow up the implementation process, the creation of a monitoring and coordination unit for the Plan - through the Inter-Ministries Committee on Youth Matters and a Management Unit to follow up the Plan as well as an info unit is put in place. More than this it is also mentioned a financial allocation of 900 000 Euro to implement the action plan.

In 2020 the Ministry of Youth and Sports started preparing the youth strategy 2021-2027. In December 2020 a needs assessment was provided by the Life Quality Institute to support the elaboration of the strategy in 2021. Additionally, the Youth Barometer 2020 was released with the same aim. Other than that, consultations with the Counties’ Directorates on Youth and Sport and with other governmental institutions with responsibilities in the field of youth were organized. Based on the outcomes of the research and the consultation processes and after consultation with the National Council for Youth, a preliminary proposal for the new Youth Strategy, in line with the European Youth Strategy, was published in 2021. A cooperation protocol with the Government’s General Secretariat was signed by the Ministry of Youth and Sport in order to be provided with additional support for the coordination of the development and adoption process of the new Youth Strategy. In 2022, the consultation processes with the governmental and non-governmental organisations will continue, aiming to have the final project adopted by the end of the year.

In 2020 the Ministry of Youth and Sports started preparing the youth strategy 2021-2027. In December 2020 a needs assessment has been provided by the Life Quality Institute to support the elaboration of the strategy in 2021. The strategic planning process was carried on in 2021, with several consultations organised and several versions of the strategic objectives and main actions have been presented by the Ministry to the National Council on Youth, the advisory body of youth organisations organised by the Ministry. However, in March 2022 the strategic process is ongoing and no Youth Strategy has been adopted by the Romanian Government.