The European Youth Work Agenda Coming Alive in Slovenia

In this article Tina explains about the connections between the Office for Youth and the European Youth Work Agenda (Agenda). She shares some key insights about the Strategic Plan itself, provides an overview of the National Youth Programme and explain how young people were and still are able to be part of the development of both the Strategic Plan and the NYP.

How it started

Representatives from the Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Youth were part of the Slovenian delegation at the 3rd European Youth Work Convention which was hosted online via Bonn in December 2020. The Slovenian translation of The Final Declaration of the 3rd European Youth Work Convention was published in March 2022. Near the end of the Convention, delegations were asked to explore commitments they could make to the Agenda. The Slovenian delegation focused on two main areas: the quality and recognition of youth work in Slovenia.

In April of 2022 a steering committee was established at national level which is creating and working on the Strategic Plan for the period 2023 to 2027. The steering committee consists of representatives from the Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Youth, a number of youth organisations – including the National Youth Council of Slovenia, the Erasmus+ National Agency (Zavod MOVIT NA MLADINA), representatives of local authorities, and experts from two universities.

The Slovenian Strategic Plan for the implementation of the EYWA

The vision for the Strategic Plan is to establish standards for youth work that will ensure the positive effects of youth work are more widely known and that youth work gains greater recognition in society. The Strategic Plan defines a set of goals for achieving its overall vision.

The key goals of the Strategic Plan include:

• To identify the effects of youth work and based on that create measurable criteria and standards for quality youth work;
• To establish a uniform surveying system of quality in youth work on national and local levels;
• To empower young people to be able to recognise, present and use the competences and other skills they have gained through their participation in youth work;
• To establish support systems/environments for the quality youth work on national and local levels;
• For formal education to recognise and properly value the complementary non-formal education that takes place in youth work;
• To effectively communicate the effects of youth work to different audiences;
• For the private sector to recognise and value youth work and therefore support it.

At time of writing the Strategic Plan is still in the process of being formed, the final version is foreseen to be issued at the beginning of 2023. It is planned that throughout the whole implementation period, the steering committee will continue to regularly meet to direct and evaluate the process.

The role of the young people

The involvement of young people has been a key part of the process for the development and creation of the Strategic Plan. This includes a number of young people being on the steering committee as well as the National Youth Council of Slovenia. Every effort has and is being made to cooperate with young people at every step.

The working version of the Strategic Plan was sent to youth organisations across Slovenia in order to receive their comments, which the steering committee then took into account where relevant. Young people have also been able to participate through youth dialogue at regional events – opinions from the youth dialogue were also used for the content of the National Youth Programme.

The National Youth Programme 2023-2032

The key goals of the Strategic Plan are included in Slovenia’s National Youth Programme (NYP) for 2023-2032. The NYP is coordinated by a number of different ministries and supported by universities who provide expert inputs, and conduct research and evaluation. The National Youth Programmestill needs a lot of work done on the wider political level in order to achieve change for youth work at local and national levels.

The National Youth Programme will be implemented through a series of two year action plans. It will be adopted by the Slovenian parliament in early 2023. The Office for Youth is cooperating with the steering committee and leading dialogue with all stakeholders in the youth sector and different audiences with regards to the Strategic Plan and the NYP.

The Future for Youth Work in Slovenia

By developing the youth sector and youth work, Slovenia is strengthening the participation of young people in all social matters. Through the development of targeted youth policies, an environment in which young people can develop their potential and realise their ideas is created.

Slovenia is achieving this through following activities:

• updating legislation that strengthens the youth sector, its development, and visibility and so enables the active participation of all young people;
• supporting regular research in the field of youth and youth work;
• strengthening and developing youth work with an emphasis on quality and better financial support for youth organisations;
• developing a system for measuring the effects of youth work and youth organisations in the youth sector;
• ensuring youth dialogue and developing participatory mechanisms for young people in decision-making structures;
• establishing a youth work financing system that will encourage the organisation and implementation of youth work where it does not exist or is not developed (covering grey areas);
• adopting legislation that will oblige local communities to finance youth work.