On this page

1. Governance

2. Cross-sectoral cooperation

Governance

The main governmental authority responsible for volunteering is the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs (Ministarstvo za rad, zapošljavanje, boračka i socijalna prava).  The Ministry is responsible for volunteering regardless of age, not just for the youth volunteering. 



Under the Law on Volunteering (Zakon o volontiranju), the Ministry is responsible for the overall supervision and approving the volunteering programmes as well as for keeping records of these programmes. 



Sector for Labour and its Department for normative and analytical work in the field of labour, is in charge of all volunteering aspects defined in the said law. The Department performs tasks related to: 

• voluntary work, 
• preparation of decisions for recognitions of the volunteering programmes for public enterprises and companies, 
• collecting and entering data on the organisers of the volunteering programmes in the national register (Evidence of Volunteering) and informing the organisers about it.

Important public actor involved in regulation of youth volunteering is also the Ministry of Youth and Sport (Ministarstvo omladine i sporta). The responsibilities of the Ministry of Youth and Sport related to youth volunteering are specified in the National Youth Strategy 2015-2025. 

To summarize, the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs is responsible for overall regulation, promotion and support of volunteering regardless of age, while the Ministry of Youth and Sports is involved in defining policies and measures on youth volunteering.  

• The National Youth Strategy envisions providing support in organisation and valuation of youth voluntary work, as well as providing adequate conditions for volunteering in all areas of social life.  Aiming to promote activism and volunteerism, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has launched the programm Young Researchers of Serbia (Mladi istraživači Srbije) with its Voluntary Service (Volonterski servis) through which it cooperates with international and national partners of various profile (youth work, volunteerism and environmental protection from different fields). The Voluntary Service organizes international voluntary workcamps abroad and  volunteering projects in Serbia.
• National Association of Youth Offices (Nacionalna asocijacija kancelarija za mlade) is a representative body of cities and municipalities that have youth offices (see Chapter 1/1.4 Youth policy decision-making/Structure of decision-making). It gathers 92 members and helps in networking, exchange of good practices in the field of youth, and it participates in Youth  Council (see Chapter 1/1.4 Youth policy decision-making/Structure of decision-making).

The abovementioned actors participate in different levels of policy-making- from counselling, preparing drafts and conducting studies, to implementing volunteering programmes and promoting volunteering at state level.

Cross-sectoral cooperation 

Aside from the cross-sectoral cooperation established at the level of the Youth Council determined by the National Youth Strategy 2015-2025 (see Chapter 1/1.5 Cross-sectoral approach with other ministries/ Mechanisms and actors) that envisages cooperation of actors in the field of youth (ministries, secretariats, experts in youth policy, youth offices, youth organisations, organisations for youth and their associations, etc.), the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society (Kancelarija za saradnju sa civilnim društvom) was established in 2011 by the Government of the Republic of Serbia. The Office has been established as an institutional mechanism to support the development of a dialogue between the Serbian Government and civil society organisations. The Office conducts technical affairs, including:

• Cooperating with state bodies, municipalities, cities, as well as with associations and other civil society organisations,
• Conducting technical affairs related to cooperation and exchange of experiences with similar governmental institutions in the region, European Union member states and the world;
• Organizing round-table discussions and conferences;
• Issuing publications and undertaking other measures and activities aimed at upgrading the capacities and raising the sustainability of associations’ and other civil society organisations’ operation and actions;
• Collecting and disseminating information relevant to associations’ and other civil society organisations’ operation; etc.