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YouthWiki

EACEA National Policies Platform
Romania

Romania

2. Voluntary Activities

2.4 Youth volunteering at national level

Last update: 23 March 2024
On this page
  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

There is no National Programme for Youth Volunteering developed in Romania.

Volunteering Law was adopted in 2014 (Law no. 78/2014 regulating the volunteering activity in Romania). The law is replacing an older law from 2001 (amended in 2006). No stand-alone law on youth volunteering or other regulation dedication to youth volunteering is in force in Romania. 

The Volunteering Law is providing consistent and harmonized solutions at European level to problems of organizations working with volunteers and thus creating a modern legal framework, appropriately adapted to the national and European context in the field of volunteering.

In the contents of the first article of the Volunteering Law, volunteering is defined as an important factor in contributing to a competitive European labour market and the development of education and training, increasing social solidarity.

In this regard, the Volunteering Law, in the content of article 3 letter (a), defines volunteering as being the activity of public interest, mandatory, unpaid, fulfilled by the voluntary decision, supported and promoted by the Romanian state, based on a volunteering contract, according to which the volunteer undertakes to perform the activity, and the host organization offers an activity proper to the person’s application and preparation, ensuring the expenses incurred.

Volunteering is based on several principles. Among these the principle according to which the volunteering activity does not substitute paid work and also the principle of the public interest feature of volunteering activity. These are meant to help clarifying the types of actions that are voluntary or not, especially when the public benefit is indirect or extremely difficult to identify.

The organizations working with volunteers are obliged to include explicit provisions regarding the involvement of volunteers and how their activity is being managed in the contents of their status or the internal procedures of organizations.

The Volunteering Law contains important new elements on the demand for volunteering. The law provides that supporting volunteering should not represent a means of reducing costs by the local public authorities, indicating the annual meetings of local public administration authorities with representatives of local host organizations of volunteers in order to organize effective cooperation and the involvement of local public administration in promoting and supporting the International Day of Volunteers on 5th December.

According to the Volunteering Law, volunteering can be considered "professional and / or specialty experience, if it is achieved in the field of studies".

Funding

There is no specific budget allocated at the central level for youth volunteering. If budget allocations are made at local level, there are isolated initiatives of municipal councils, and they are not integrated in a volunteering programme.

Characteristics of youth volunteering

According to Eurobarometer data from the spring of 2010, Romania had approximately 4.4 million volunteers i.e. about 20% of the population being involved in such activities specific mainly to people under 35 years, and those involved or included in the educational system.

According to the Youth Barometer commissioned by the Ministry of Youth and Sports in 2020, 52% of young people have been participating in volunteering activities, compared to only 13% in 2012. National level data, from the Youth Barometer 2022, show that 43% of young people declared that they participated in volunteering activities, showing a decrease of volunteering in 2022 compared with 2020 that can be linked with other effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Support to young volunteers

According to the Volunteering Law, host organisations have to cover all incurring expenses of the volunteers. No public programme or support is available for this, the host organisations being fully responsible.

Volunteers are entitled to work protection training under the same regulations as paid employees. Insurances for health and accidents is optional and it is fully the responsibility of the host organisations. The state or other public bodies are not supporting volunteering through social security provisions, for example volunteers are not eligible for unemployment insurance.

Target groups

There are no official documents identifying specific target groups within the youth population whose participation in voluntary activities shall be fostered.