2.10 Current debates and reforms
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Forthcoming policy developments
The Strategy of Children and Youth Education for Volunteering was adopted in April 2018. Within the strategy, several measures related to the implementation of the strategy in practice were accepted. The creation of educational programs for teachers at the various schools for education for volunteering, which was based on the service-learning strategy, can be considered the most significant. The training is currently provided by Platform of Volunteer Centers and organization.
The two important documents were in 2021 in preparation. The first is Strategy for Civil Society Development. The proposal of the Strategy is based on the results of the the non-profit sector and civil society research, which started to be implemented in 2018 under the auspices of the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Slovak Republic Government for the Civil Society Development. The research was carried out within the project called 'Better public policies through better knowledge of civil society', and financed from the European Social Fund under the Effective Public Administration programme. The critical part of the research was also volunteering. The study results are expected to contribute to changes in public policies in several areas, including Volunteering. The Strategy should be approved by the Slovak Government in 2022.
The second important change and development are connected with the amendment the Act on Volunteering . Based on the Action plan of Strategy for Civil Society Development for 2020 and 2021 the working group in the Ministry of Interior focused on legislation changes regarding Volunteering and preparation of the financial mechanisms for supporting long-term volunteering programs. The changes and financial mechanisms were at the end of 2021 incorporated in the amendment of the Act of on Volunteering and other acts. The changes should be approved by the National Parliament during 2022 and should be valid since 2023, except financial mechanism, which should be put in practice in 2025.
The ongoing debates are part of the preparation of Strategy for Civil Society Development for the next period. They focus on concrete aims and measures that will be implemented in the next years and will create the basis for public policy in volunteering.