This phenomenon is particularly strong in the territories, as evidenced by the extremely low turnout of young people – only 26.3% in the last local elections.
Today, only a third of the mayoralties in the country have real structures of participation or specialized infrastructure such as youth centers. The situation is particularly alarming in rural areas, where the majority of the country’s young people live (58%), but where specialized services are virtually non-existent. Moreover, less than 25% of administrative-territorial units have managed to keep local youth councils active. Today, the function of the youth affairs specialist is often “lost” within education or culture departments, leaving the field without clear funding.
“Youth 360”
In order to improve the situation and to move from one-off measures to a clear strategy, the relevant ministry has developed the Program of support to local public authorities “Youth 360”.
The main innovation of the program will be the establishment of the Youth Fund, within which up to 100 thousand lei will be allocated annually from the state budget to the local public authorities. The money will not be provided automatically. The financing will be tied to specific conditions: the mayoralties will be obliged to involve young people in the budget allocation, to fulfill key performance indicators and to report on the real results of the projects. In addition, the work of local authorities will be publicly assessed with the help of a special rating – the Index of Youth-Friendly Cities and Villages. This should spur healthy competition between regions.
Another measure is aimed at shifting from decisions made “for young people” to processes implemented “together with young people”. The Ministry of Education and Research, together with the National Agency for the Development of Youth Programs, will launch a centralized system of real-time statistical data collection and analysis, which will eradicate the fragmented planning that has existed so far.
