Describe the main features of the policy/measure:
The measure is carried out by implementing the National Youth Strategy for the period 2015-2025 (Official Gazette of the RS, issue 22/2015), which was created to define youth policy and improve the socio-economic and cultural position of youth, with the goal of providing conditions for youth to live a fulfilling life of equality, with an emphasis on the importance of youth participation in the field of culture and creating cultural contents for achieving social cohesion. The National Youth Strategy identifies nine strategic goals whose achievement should improve: young women’s and men's employability and employment; quality and opportunity for earning qualifications; youth's development of competencies and innovativeness; active participation of young women and men in society; young women and men's health and well-being; conditions for the development of youth safety culture; support to social inclusion of youth in risk of social exclusion; mobility, youth international cooperation, and support for young migrants; system for informing youth and knowledge about youth; reliance on youth and their participation in the creation of cultural contents. The strategic document recognizes youth culture and creativity as one of the major factors for improving the position of youth and youth policies.
Improving the system for informing youth and knowledge about youth were defined as the Strategic Goal 8, while increased reliance on youth and their participation in the creation of cultural contents was defined as Strategic Goal 9.
Based on the Report on the Evaluation of the Level of Achievement of the National Youth Strategy’s Goals for 2015-2017 compiled by the Institute of Economic Sciences in Belgrade, as well as five consultative meetings in December 2017 organized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports in cooperation with the youth and representatives of youth associations, as well as local youth offices, the Action Plan for Implementing the National Youth Strategy for 2018-2020 (The Government of Serbia’s Conclusion, Official Gazette of the RS, issue 99/2018) was drafted, and adopted by the Government of Serbia on December 12, 2018. The Action Plan specifies the indicators that follow: degree of activity implementation, the implementation period, the level of implementation (republican, regional, local), implementers and participants in the implementation process. It also defines the amount of funds necessary for implementation. The Action Plan defines activities for 2018, 2019, and 2020.
Website of the policy/measure, if available:
What are the results achieved so far through the implementation of the policy/measure?:
Based on the evaluation of the previous Action Plan, analyses, and consultations, the Action Plan for Implementing the National Youth Strategy for 2018-2020 specifies, among other things, activities needed to achieve the strategic goals. 9 and 8 are two numbers (improving the system for informing youth and knowledge about youth were defined as the Strategic Goal 8, while increased reliance of youth and their participation in creating cultural contents was defined as Strategic Goal 9).
As part of efforts related to Strategic Goal 8: Improved System for Informing Youth and Knowledge About Youth, to achieve the specific goal 8.1– Providing youth with access to complete, comprehensible, and reliable information in accordance with their needs—the following activities were defined: support for youth involvement in identifying needs (in production and the media); development of informative programs and services; preparation and delivery of information, as well as evaluation of services and programs; development of non-institutional educational programs and services for youth at the local level; establishing cooperation and coordination of informational programs and youth services with other programs, services, and youth structures at the local level; supporting programs and services in adapting informational programs to a youth-friendly language and facilitating informing in national minority languages; encouraging the use of gender-inclusive terminology when informing youth, and supporting programs and services tailored to vulnerable social groups that guarantee that all youth have equitable access to information; development and support for implementing standards and quality criteria for youth informative work in accordance with the European Youth Information Charter; defining guidelines for informing youth via the internet in accordance with European guidelines for informing youth through the internet; and supporting activities aimed at strengthening the capacities of youth policy subjects to implement standards and guidelines for informing youth in their programs and services.
To accomplish the specific goal 8.2—The media providing information and creating contents for youth and about youth in line with their needs—the following activities were defined: keeping track of the scope and type of youth content in the media, as well as an analysis of their adjustment to the identified youths' needs and subjects of interest; establishing cooperation and developing partnerships between program implementers and youth information services and media; developing the capacities of all youth policy subjects for cooperation with the media in exchanging information and adjusting information to the youth; providing support for the development of media contents for the youth directed at presenting youth in a positive context, with positive examples and achievements of youth; founding youth editorial offices for working in the media made up of youth and associations carrying out youth activities; supporting journalist training for reporting on youth; and following youth and their needs.
To accomplish the specific goal 8.3—Youth having adequate access to and knowledge for using new technologies and the internet—the following activities were defined: enabling daily free access to new technology and the internet for pupils and students; motivating young women to use free internet services and programs; supporting the establishment and equipment of public spaces at the local level where youth can use technology and the internet for free; supporting the training of educators, professional associates, and association activists that carry out youth activities for using new technologies in working with the youth; developing programs for increasing information literacy, i.e. skills among youth for searching and using information, especially for youth from vulnerable groups.
As part of efforts related to Strategic Goal 9: Increased Reliance on Youth and their Participation in the Creation of Cultural Contents, to achieve the specified goal 9.1– Continuous support to the development of youth creativity and youth participation in the creation and use of cultural contents, the following activities were defined: identifying and improving programs that encourage youth creativity at a local level and enable collaboration with other environments; ensuring support for youth cultural activities within informal initiatives and associations that carry out youth activities; developing training programs for youth for self-employment through consociation in art and culture; introducing special hours for young creators in programs of cultural institutions, with no fee; securing support to cultural institutions for their work in the inclusion of youth in creating and using cultural content; supporting the recognition and providing systematic support to youth creative industries and cultural entrepreneurship; allowing associations that carry out youth activities in culture and art at the local level to use public spaces.
Specific goal 9.2– Increased use of cultural contents among youth, defines the actives: providing support to programs that include young people in the process of adjusting cultural content to youth; supporting training programs for people working in cultural institutions on the contemporary ways and means of presenting cultural content in a youth-friendly way; improving cooperation between cultural institutions and education to increase the number of youth using cultural contents; providing support to the development of online providers of cultural emancipation for youth; supporting the promotion of cultural participation among youth in all kinds of media, while highlighting creative youth as positive examples.
Financial resources allocated to the policy/measure in USD:
A complete plan of financing activities for 2018 was created, as well as a cost prediction for the three-year period 2018-2020. The total budget for 2018 was set at 4,937,251,497 RSD, with 4,346,149,742 RSD coming from the government budget and 591,101,750 RSD coming from other sources. This reflected the Government's strategic priority of supporting youth employment and entrepreneurship, so the majority of the other resources were set aside for that purpose. A sum of 21,000,000 RSD was allocated by the Ministry of Culture and Information.
Partner(s) engaged in the implementation of the measure:
| Name of partner |
|---|
Ministry of Culture and Information, Provincial Secretariat for Sports and Youth, Local self-governments, CSOs
|
Has the implementation of the policy/measure been evaluated?:
YES
If yes, what are the main conclusions/recommendations?:
Ministry of Youth and Sports regularly hired independent professional bodies for the annual evaluation of the Action Plan. For the final year of the Action Plan, the Ministry of Youth and Sports hired the Center for Development Management to conduct the Action Plan evaluation of the National Youth Strategy 2018-2020 for 2020. The Evaluation highlighted that in 2020, the Ministry of Youth and Sports launched four public calls to support programs and projects in the youth sector for various fields. A total of 88 projects were supported, all of which were based on the AP’s implementation. The overall cost was 216,701,101 RSD. Despite the fact that youth, as a distinct social group, were particularly hard struck during the pandemic, the survey data show that even in the year 2020, the level of total achievement of nine strategic goals was significant—89.56%.
The highest level of implementation was seen in strategic goals relating to culture and informing. With a success rate of 93.28%, Strategic Goal 9—Improved Reliance on Youth and their Participation in the Creation of Cultural Content was the most successful, while Strategic Goal 8—Improved System of Informing Youth and Knowledge About Youth, had a rate of 92.59%.
In analyzing the Strategic Goal 8—Improved System of Informing Youth and Knowledge About Youth, four specific goals were implemented in 2020:
- Youth were given access to complete, comprehensible, and reliable information in accordance with their needs—accomplishment rate 100%;
- The media provided information and created content for youth and about youth in accordance with their needs—accomplishment rate 100%;
- Youth had adequate access to and knowledge for using new technologies and the internet—accomplishment rate 83.33%;
- Knowledge about youth based on relevant information, which are used for planning in all fields and at all levels of government—accomplishment rate 57.14%.
The accomplishment rate of this strategic goal slightly increased since 2019 where the accomplishment rate 92.3%. The conclusion is that regarding the field of informing and content creation for youth, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and other parties defined by the AP have to continue to improve this system.
In analyzing the Strategic Goal 9—Improved Reliance and Participation of Youth in the Creation of Cultural Content, two specific goals were implemented in 2020:
- Provided continuous support to developing the creativity of youth and youth participation in creating and using cultural content—accomplishment rate 100%;
- Increased use of cultural contents among youth—accomplishment rate 84.33%.
However, as certain activities were not implemented, only a small percentage of youth participated in certain activities, such as “Providing Support to Programs that Include Youth in the Process of Adjusting Cultural Contents to Youth.” Therefore, the Evaluation recommends that youth should be given more hours for young creators in programs of cultural institutions, without fee. The results of the youth survey indicate that additional measures to improve cooperation in this sector should be considered.