2.8 Raising awareness about youth volunteering opportunities
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The Ministry of Youth and Sports is the top-level public authority responsible for disseminating information on volunteering opportunities for young people.
The Sector for Youth of the Ministry is responsible for advising and preparing youth for employment and voluntary work, especially through youth voluntarism encouragement. The Sector for Youth provides following services related to youth volunteering:
- Raising awareness of youth about importance of volunteering;
- Informing youth about open applications for voluntary work;
- Social empowerment of youth by encouraging volunteerism and capacity building of youth organisations.
Additionally, the Ministry through the national programme Youth Rules (Mladi su zakon) developed an online platform www.mladisuzakon.rs with a special section dedicated to volunteering camps and local youth volunteering projects (see Chapter 2/2.5 Cross-mobility projects/Other programmes).
The most important national initiative that promotes youth activism and volunteerism is the programme Youth Rules (Mladi su zakon). This programme financially supports youth projects, but also promotes them and disseminates relevant information through its network of local authorities, local youth offices, youth organisations, organisations for youth, etc.
The goal of the Ministry of Youth and Sport with this programme is to promote volunteerism and support young people in building a better life in their communities. Thanks to the 9-year-long implementation of the Youth Rules programme, the programme today is recognizable and visible to youth all around Serbia.
Aside from the Youth Rules activities, the Ministry of Youth and Sport annually organises 2 promotional and dissemination events/celebrations:
- International Volunteer Day on 5 December and
- International Youth Day on 12 August.
These events gather relevant public authorities in the youth and volunteering sectors as well as important stakeholders such as: civil society organisations, youth and for youth organisations, students, students’ body representatives, media, organisers of volunteering, etc.