1.7 Funding youth policy
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How Youth policy is funded
National youth policy is funded within the central government budget.
Local youth policy is funded by respective municipality. Sweden has 290 municipalities with local governments. The municipalities have a considerable degree of autonomy and finance largely their own activities, due to independent powers of taxation. The municipalities are responsible (partly in some policy areas) for youth policy issues such as schools, employment and training, health care, social care and services, culture and leisure.
It is important to note that in Sweden municipalities have considerable autonomy on how different policies, including youth policy, is implemented. The national youth policy is compulsory for ministries and central government agencies, but only advisory at the local level.
What is funded
Of the year 2023 central government budget for the youth policy area, 24.3 million euros (284 million Swedish kronor) were targeted to national and international youth activities. Of the totally 24.3 million euros, about 320 000 euros were deposited to administer international youth activities including the National Agencies for Erasmus+ Youth and European Solidarity corps, and 23.9 million euros were deposited as a state grant to youth organisations.
Above that, the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society (MUCF) got for its disposal 5.2 million euros (60 million Swedish kronor for administrative expenditures and duties according to the ordinance.
Besides that, the situation of young people is affected by a wide range of policy areas in the government’s budget, such as education, employment, culture, health, social care and services etc.
Financial accountability
The activities and results of all government agencies are annually followed up and evaluated. Each agency submits an annual report to the government containing information about, inter alia, expenses, revenue and results. On the basis of the reports the government can follow up and evaluate agencies’ operations, for instance in the youth policy field. The annual reports together with budget data submitted by agencies are also the basis for work on next year’s national budget and appropriation directives.
Use of EU Funds
The Swedish ESF Council finances projects focusing on skills development, employment measures and integration initiatives. Of the totally five programme areas, both programme area 2 and 3 are targeting young people.
Programme area 2 - Increased transitions to work
Programme area B is aimed at individuals outside the labor market who are registered with the Employment Service and are in need of equipping and matching efforts from an independent actor. No announcement was made in the program area in 2022. (ESF Council’s Annual Report 2022).
Programme area 3 - Employment for young people
In programme area C, the support is aimed at initiatives for social inclusion with the aim of supporting individuals who are economically vulnerable within the definition of relative poverty. EU’s definition of relative poverty involves individuals with a income after tax that falls below 60 percent of the country’s median income. Self-sufficiency is the focus within the programme area and means that efforts are directed to financially vulnerable individuals for measures for work, study and for approaching working life. About half of the allocated funds are directed to interventions aimed at counteracting the risk of and mitigating the consequences of child poverty. Four applications were received, which in total reach up to the SEK 48 million (about 4.1 million euros) announced with the aim of combating child poverty. The entire amount was granted, distributed among these four projects. (ESF Council’s Annual Report 2022).