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1. Governance

2. Cross-sectorial cooperation

Governance

Main actors involved in youth social inclusion

Main actors involved in youth social inclusion

The main top-level governmental authority responsible for youth social inclusion are:

• the Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity;

• the National Authority for Children Protection and Adoptions (NACPA);

• the National Authority for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (NARPD);

• the General Offices for Social Assistance and Children Protection (GOSACP) at county level;

• the National Agency for Payment and Social Inspection (NAPSI);

• the Public Social Assistance Services (PSAS) at city level.

Trade unions, employers’ organisations and NGOs participate in policy making in the field of youth social inclusion through three main channels:

1. the National Council for Youth (NCFY)  established in 2020, serves as an advisory body to the ministry responsible for youth policies—currently the Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity, since its establishment in December 2024. 

2. ad-hoc consultative meetings, mainly with NGOs

3. the Economic and Social Council, a consultative body of the Parliament and the Government, including representatives of trade unions, employers and civil society. Civil society organisations are appointed to the Council by the Minister of Labour following a voting process among NGOs. The National Youth Foundation and the Romanian National Alliance of Youth Organisations are represented in the Economic and Social Council.

UNICEF office in Romania is also active, providing information, studies and advice for policy planning as well as testing and piloting social assistance models at local level. Their models primarily target children, but young people (14–35 years old) are also a key group for UNICEF Romania.

General distribution of responsabilities

Concerning the general distribution of responsibilities, the main governance approach to youth social inclusion is largely top-down, but distribution of social benefits at local level and some of the basic social services are provided by the local authorities. The main responsibilities are as follows:

• the Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity is the main central authority responsible for the development of the national policies for social inclusion and family policies, including policies for children in the special protection system for children without parental care and for young people leaving the special protection system. It also has a coordination role over the county offices implementing social inclusion policies and a monitoring role over the implementation of policies at national, county and local level;

• the National Authority for Children Protection and Adoptions (NACPA) is the central institution under the Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity in charge  of policy making and implementation (while decision on these policies lies with the Ministry) for the social protection of young people under 18 and young people leaving the special protection system;

• the General Offices for Social Assistance and Children Protection (GOSACP) are implementing the policies at county level in the field of social inclusion and child protection, including young people under 18;

• the National Agency for Payment and Social Inspection (NAPSI) is an institution under the Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity in charge of the coordination of social benefit payments and inspecting these payments. The institution has county offices that are directly communicating with the local services and carrying out the inspections;

• the Public Social Assistance Services (PSAS) are departments at the level of local authorities, in charge of direct provision of services and direct distribution of social benefits.

Central authorities have a regulatory role in the field of social services and may allocate limited financial resources from the state budget to organisations that provide such services, provided they are accredited in advance. This support is granted under Law No. 34/1998, which regulates the provision of subsidies to Romanian associations and foundations with legal personality that establish and operate social service units. 

The governance approach to youth social inclusion is top-down in terms of policy development, while implementation is decentralised. Social assistance is delivered at the local level by Public Social Assistance Services within local administrations, as well as by NGOs, which provide services and administer social benefits.

Cross-sectorial cooperation

There are three mechanisms of cross-sectorial cooperation between Ministries, Departments, and Agencies involved in defining top-level policies and measures on youth employment and entrepreneurship:

1. Ad-hoc meetings and consultations

2. Ad-hoc inter-ministerial committees organised on different topics. For example, in 2016 the Ministry of Labour created an inter-ministerial committee for jobs creation, with responsibilities on jobs for young people.

3. The Monitoring Committee of the Education and Employment Programme and the Social Inclusion and Dignity Programme, the programmes supporting employment, education, training, social support and social entrepreneurship with funding provided by the European Social Fund Puls (ESF+). The Monitoring Committee is an important cooperation mechanism, as the ESF+ programmes fund many strategic initiatives and projects in the field of youth inclusion.

There results of the cross-sector cooperation mechanisms described are documented, and the decisions and minutes of the committees are public or available upon request according to Law No. 544/2001. However, their impact is not evaluated.