Governance

There is no single public body responsible for youth employment and entrepreneurship in Slovenia. Different ministries and government offices are involved the implementation of policies and programmes to address this issue, such as the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Family and Equal Opportunities (MDDSZ); the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology (MGRT); the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport (MIZŠ) and the ESS. The roles of different ministries can be categorised in the following manner:

• The MDDSZ is the principal body responsible for youth employment.
• The MGRT is the principal body responsible for entrepreneurship.
• The ESS is a key Slovenian labour market institution. It is a public, independent legal entity operating uniformly across the entire country.
• A range of ministries help fund employment programmes.

The following sectors are responsible for implementing the YG from 2014–2015 and 2016–2020:

• The MDDSZ,
• The MIZŠ,
• The MGRT,
• The Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment (MKGP) and
• The Ministry of Culture (MK).

The ESS perform activities related to employment, such as development of active employment policy programmes, distribution of career guidance, provision of unemployment insurance and regulation of employment and foreign workers through numerous laws and rules, including the following:

• Employment and Work of Foreigners Act,
• Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment of Disabled Persons Act, school legislation (career guidance, advice and education) and
• Labour regulations (redundant workers, trainee periods, employment contracts, inspections, etc.).  

Main public actors are as follows:

• The Committee of the National Assembly of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and the Disabled (Odbor za delo, družino, socialne zadeve in invalide), which discusses draft laws, other acts and issues relating to employment relationships and rights related to employment and vocational training.
• The Council of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Youth (Svet Vlade RS za mladino), which was established in 2009 by the Slovenian government to serve as a consultative body. Article 8 of the Public Interest in Youth Sector Act states, ‘[the] Council of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Youth as a consulting body shall offer assistance in making decisions on matters in the field of youth and the youth sector’ (see also Chapter 1.5).
• The Slovene Enterprise Fund (SEF) (Slovenski podjetniški sklad), or the Public Fund of Republic of Slovenia for Entrepreneurship, was established in order to improve access to financial resources for micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to invest, including funding for start-ups and micro-financing.
• SPIRIT Slovenia - Public Agency for Entrepreneurship, Internationalisation, Foreign Investments and Technology (Javna agencija Republike Slovenije za spodbujanje podjetništva, internacionalizacije, tujih investicij in tehnologije), under the auspices of a single agency, implements the orientations of Slovenia’s development programmes aiming to advertise innovative, technologically developed, export-oriented destinations to attract foreign investors.
• The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (Statistični urad Republike Slovenije) is the main producer and coordinator of national statistics in Slovenia.
• The Public Scholarship, Development, Disability and Maintenance Fund of the Republic of Slovenia (Javni štipendijski, razvojni, invalidski in preživninski sklad Republike Slovenije) is the central national management institution for the development of human resources. It also offers scholarships for study and research and increases opportunities for students and researchers to engage in international mobility.
• The Slovenian Institute for Vocational Education and Training (Center RS za poklicno izobraževanje) is the central Slovenian institution dealing with development, research and counselling regarding vocational and technical education. 
• The Career Centre for Students (Karierni centri) serves as a link between prospective graduates and employers.
• Primary and secondary schools conduct advisory and career guidance work with pupils and students.
• The Centre for Knowledge Promotion (Center za promocijo znanja) is registered as a research organisation at the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of Slovenia. It specialises in the evaluation, analysis and development of new systems of education.

The following are the main non-governmental actors (NGOs) in the youth sector:

• MOVIT, Institute for Development of Youth Mobility (Zavod za razvoj mobilnosti mladih) is a national agency that performs tasks in line with the EU programme Erasmus+: Youth in Action.
• The National Youth Council (MSS) (Mladinski svet Slovenije) is the umbrella organisation for youth organisations operating at the national level. MSS is also a national representative for young people in the EU.
• Ustvarjalnik teaches young people how to convert their skills into a source of income by providing opportunities for them to create business projects while in school.
• Institute Nefiks (Zavod Nefiks) promotes non-formal learning and the recognition of skills gained through non-formal learning activities.
• Youth Network MaMa (Mladinska mreža MaMa) represents organisations that run youth centres or actively support youths in Slovenia by enabling them to spend their free time in productive ways.
• The Youth Council of Local Communities (Mladinski sveti lokalnih skupnosti) is the umbrella association of youth organisations at the local level, which represents the interests of young people and youth organisations.
• Trade Union Youth Plus (Sindikat Mladi plus) was established to protect the rights of students, pupils and unemployed youths. Trade Union operates within Free Trade Union of Slovenia which is a member of the Association of Free Trade Unions of Slovenia (Zveza svobodnih sindikatov Slovenije).

Cross-sectorial cooperation

MDDSZ is the principal body responsible for youth employment. MGRT is the principal body responsible for entrepreneurship. The third most important actor in youth employment is MIZŠ. The ESS (Zavod RS za zaposlovanje) is a key Slovenian labour market institution that implements numerous projects aimed at improving the situation of youth in the labour market. The ESS actively contributes to the development of employment policy in Slovenia in cooperation with the MDDSZ. Young people mostly register as unemployed at the ESS due to termination of employment or loss of student status in order to become employed faster, obtain unemployment benefits or receive basic health insurance.

Cooperation of the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities is also foreseen in some other measures of the Resolution on the National Programme for Youth 2013–2022 (Resolucija o Nacionalnem programu za mladino 2013–2022). For example, several ministries (the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport) cooperate to improve the public policies to facilitate the rapid and appropriate entry of young people into the labor market.

The YG programme contributed to better cooperation between the ministries (and cooperation between ministries and other state bodies), although this cooperation could still be improved (for more information on this, see Borut Cink: Youth policy in Slovenia (diploma paper)).