Strategia PT Tineret en

National Youth Policy Strategy
2015-2020
Authors:
Cosmin Briciu
Octav Marcovici
Sorin Mitulescu
Aureliana Popa
Ioana Tomus
Coordinator – UNICEF Romania:

Gina Apolzan, Youth and Adolescents Development Specialist
Alpha MDN Publishing House

ISBN 978-973-139-312-4
2

Contents
CHAPTER 1: YOUTH STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT BACKGROUND (PREVIOUS

STRATEGIES; POLICY, SOCIAL, EDUCATIONAL, ECONOMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL
FRAMEWORKS)............................................................................................................................... 4
1.1 The first youth ‘strategy’ - NYAP-R .......................................................................................... 4
1.2 European strategies...................................................................................................................... 4
1.3 Analysis of policy, social, educational, economic and technological contexts ......................... 5
1.3.1 Policy dimension ..................................................................................................................... 5
1.3.2 Social dimension ..................................................................................................................... 6
1.3.3 Educational dimension ............................................................................................................ 7
1.3.4 Economic dimension ............................................................................................................... 8
1.3.5 Technological dimension ........................................................................................................ 9
CHAPTER 2: YOUTH SITUATION IN ROMANIA..................................................................... 10

2.1 Youth status and Strategy target groups.................................................................................... 10
2.2 Challenges and expected results.................................................................................................. 11
2.2.1 Dynamics of youth population ................................................................................................ 11
Indicators for tracking the impact of youth policies on youth situation ....................................... 11
2.3 Youth poverty and forms of social exclusion ............................................................................. 12
2.4 Employment and entrepreneurship............................................................................................ 13
2.4.1 Employment ............................................................................................................................ 13
2.4.2 Entrepreneurship ..................................................................................................................... 15
2.4.3 Expected results....................................................................................................................... 16
2.5 Formal and non-formal education and culture ......................................................................... 16
2.5.1 The transition from education to employment and system correlation ................................... 17
2.5.2 Non-formal education and participation in lifelong learning .................................................. 18
2.5.3 Youth and ICT usage............................................................................................................... 18
2.5.4 Culture ..................................................................................................................................... 18
2.6 Health, sports and leisure ............................................................................................................ 19
2.6.1 Health ...................................................................................................................................... 19
2.6.2 Sports and leisure .................................................................................................................... 20
2.7 Participation and volunteering.................................................................................................... 22
2.8 Youth groups affected by social exclusion.................................................................................. 23
CHAPTER 3: STRATEGY DESIGN............................................................................................... 26

3.1 Strategy overall goal..................................................................................................................... 26
3.2 Strategy principles........................................................................................................................ 26
3.3 Key areas of intervention, specific objectives and lines of action ............................................ 27
3
3.3.1 Non-formal education and culture – specific objectives and lines of action........................... 27
Indicators for tracking education and vocational training policy impact on youth situation....... 30
Indicators for tracking cultural policy impact on youth situation ................................................ 31
3.3.2 Health, sports and leisure – specific objectives and lines of action ........................................ 32
Indicators for tracking health, sports and leisure policy impact on youth situation .................... 34
3.3.3 Participation and volunteering – specific objectives and lines of action................................. 35
Indicators for tracking participation and volunteering policy impact on youth situation............ 37
3.3.4 Employment and entrepreneurship – specific objectives and lines of action.......................... 39
Indicators for tracking employment and entrepreneurship policy impact on youth situation ...... 45
CHAPTER 4: STRATEGY CONTRIBUTION TO THE SOCIAL INCLUSION OF YOUNG

PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ARE VULNERABLE AND/OR WHO, FOR
VARIOUS REASONS, MAY HAVE FEWER OPPORTUNITIES .............................................. 46
4.1 Occupational exclusion ............................................................................................................ 46
4.2 Exclusion from formal and non-formal education and culture ........................................... 46
4.3 Exclusion from health care ...................................................................................................... 47
4.4 Exclusion from participation................................................................................................... 48
4.5 Poverty, social exclusion and vulnerable groups ................................................................... 48
Indicators for tracking social inclusion policy impact on youth situation.................................... 51
CHAPTER 5: IMPLEMENTING MECHANISMS AND SUPPORT PROGRAMMES............ 54

5.1 Implementing mechanisms ...................................................................................................... 54
5.2 Support programmes ............................................................................................................... 55
5.2.1 Strategy implementation monitoring and evaluation ........................................................... 55
5.2.2 Building management and implementation capacity of Strategy implementing entities ..... 56
5.2.3 Public information and social dialogue ................................................................................ 56
4
CHAPTER 1: YOUTH STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT BACKGROUND
(PREVIOUS STRATEGIES; POLICY, SOCIAL, EDUCATIONAL,
ECONOMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL FRAMEWORKS)
1.1 The first youth ‘strategy’ - NYAP-R

Romania’s first attempt at strategic planning in the youth field occurred at the end of 2001.
The document called the National Youth Action Plan – Romania (NYAP-R) envisaged 8
objectives, four related to Participation (economic, civic, political, cultural and school
participation) plus other four aimed at mitigating the marginalisation and exclusion
determinants, boosting creativity, promoting mobility in Europe, and optimising the
institutional framework.
1.2 European strategies

The European focus on the development and coordination of national youth policies
intensified particularly in the past 10 to 15 years.
In 1997, the Council of Europe started a national youth policy monitoring process and, in
2001, the European Commission’s White Paper was published. The latter aimed to give
young people the opportunity to express their views and feel included in public policies. Thus,
the Paper calls for Member States to grant a higher priority to youth matters in sectoral
policies such as those on employment and social integration, education, lifelong learning,
mobility, the fight against racism and xenophobia. As such, the youth policy is designed as a
cross-cutting policy attuned to numerous other sectoral public policies. On the other hand, the
Paper lays the basis for a coordination mechanism between Member States, aimed at the
following: introducing new ways of enabling young people to participate in public life,
improving youth information on European issues, encouraging volunteering and enhancing
(scientific) knowledge of youth-related issues.
These aims were further used to outline most of the youth strategies developed by Member
States.
In April 2009, the Commission introduced a new planning document called ‘An EU Strategy
for Youth: Investing and Empowering – A renewed open method of coordination to address
youth challenges and opportunities’. It proposes a strategy for future youth policies in Europe,
inviting both Member States and the Commission to cooperate in the area of youth policies
based on the renewed open method of coordination. Taking an intersectoral approach, the
European strategy seeks to empower young people to deal with current challenges. Upon
extensive consultations, major challenges were identified in the following areas: education,
employment, social inclusion, and health.
5
Two approaches underlie the European Union vision for young people: investing in youth,
which means allocating more resources for the development of youth policy areas that affect
young people in their everyday life; and empowering youth, which means promoting young
people’s potential for contributing to the renewal of society and to the values and objectives
of the European Union, with a special focus on young people with fewer opportunities.
1.3 Analysis of policy, social, educational, economic and technological contexts
1.3.1 Policy dimension

The national youth sector features a set of important regulatory acts, most of which were
adopted in the past 10 years: Law 69/2000 on physical education and sports, as subsequently
amended and supplemented; Law 78/2014 on the regulation of volunteer activities in
Romania; Law 90/2001 on the organisation and operation of the Romanian Government and
ministries; Law 646/2002 on the provision of state support to rural youth; Law 116/2002 on
preventing and fighting against social marginalisation; Law 76/2002 on the unemployment
insurance system and fostering employment; Law 146/2002 on the legal status of the
Bucharest and county youth foundations and of the National Youth Foundation; Law
279/2005, republished in 2012, concerning on-the-job apprenticeship; the Youth Law (Law
350/2006); Romanian Government Decision 669/2006 on the approval of the National
Strategy for the social inclusion of young people leaving the child protection system; Law
258/2007 on pupil and student internship; Law No 333/2006 on the establishment of youth
information and counselling centres; Law No 351/2006 on the establishment, organisation and
operation of the National Youth Council of Romania; Law 72/2007 on stimulating pupil and
student employment; Law 53/2003 – the Labour Code, republished, as subsequently amended
and supplemented; Law 287/2009, republished in 2011, on the New Civil Code; National
Education Law (Law 1/2011).
Government Programme 2013-2016

The Government Programme represents a stepping stone for youth strategy development, as
follows:
o In agriculture, new measures to support young farmers have been considered.
o In the field of education, focus is placed on the initial training of young people, youth
tertiary-level training measures, attracting the young Romanians living abroad back to
Romanian universities, removing all discrimination or obstacles to youth educational
integration, and providing support to young researchers.
o In terms of employment, the following measures are envisaged:

a) Increase the employment rate, in particular for specific target groups, such as young
people between the ages of 15 and 25; persons with disabilities; people with complex
family duties; ethnic minorities, including the Roma;
6
b) Pass youth-supportive laws to ensure a smooth transition from the education system to
the labour market and work-life balance through enhanced access to social services
that provide care to children and dependents;
c) Stimulate and extend measures that foster youth employment, especially for young
people from placement centres and persons with disabilities;
d) Provide tax relief for job creation: one-year exemption (coverage from the state
budget) from social contributions for employers if they hire young people under 25
and people over 45 under a minimum two-year employment contract;
e) Stimulate youth mobility through subsidised rent for those who move to another
county for their first job;
f) Encourage Roma youth to enter the formal labour market through state-paid
internships, specialisation and training courses and, later, job counselling;
g) Ensure labour market insertion of young people through policies designed to attain a
high rate of sustainable knowledge-based workforce growth and employment;
h) Develop tertiary education programmes tailored to labour market needs so as to

increase labour market insertion of the youth.
o In sports:
a) Strengthen the focus on physical education classes in schools by improving content
and teaching methods and supervision, and by updating the activities carried out by
school sports clubs and sports high schools;
b) Involve Romania in the organisation of national and international sporting

competitions;
c) Organise school and university championships for at least 10 sports;
d) Support the development of specific infrastructure allowing higher educational

establishments to run sports events;
e) Increase universiade participation.
Law 215/2001 lays down the obligation of local and county councils to create the necessary
framework for the provision of youth public services.
1.3.2 Social dimension

In terms of demographics, Romania has reported drastically declining birth rates in the past 23
years. The share of young people in the total population has dropped significantly, particularly
that of the age group 0-19 which registered a 3.5% decrease, from 23.9% in 2005 to 20.4% in
2012, with future consequences on both employment growth and social insurance and welfare
policies. The decreasing demographic trend is one of the risk factors addressed by the
7
Strategy. Between 2000 and 2012, Romania’s total employment rate dropped by 5.7
percentage points (pp) among the working-age population (20-64 years), the employment rate
for the workforce aged 55-64 dropped by 8.7 percentage points and the employment rate of
the female workforce aged 20-64 dropped by 6.9 pp.
In 20131, the at-risk-of absolute poverty or social exclusion rate – based on a disposable
income below 60% of the median disposable income – was 40.4% (0.3 percentage points less
than the 2012 rate of 40.7%), while the EU poverty rate stayed at 24.4%. When considering
the relative poverty rate, the most affected age group is 18-24: 30.2%. From a gender
perspective, 18.4% of women are at risk of exclusion (compared to the European average of
10.8%) versus 16.1% of men (the European average is 9.5%).
Another worrying issue with respect to the situation of young people in Romania (particularly
those under 18) is that 51.5% of them live below the poverty threshold of 60% of the median
income and are one of the most severely materially deprived social groups, Romania’s
threshold reaching 45.8% in 2013.
1.3.3 Educational dimension

The Europe 2020 targets on education are as follows: reduce the share of early school leavers
to below 10% and increase the share of young people aged 30-34 having completed tertiary
education to at least 40%. In Romania’s case, the corresponding national 2020 targets are:
11.3% for the proportion of early school leavers and 26.7% for the tertiary educational
attainment.
The introduction of non-university tertiary education brings added value as it provides young
people with ISCED level 5 qualifications and facilitates their integration into the labour
market, given the extent of over-education in Romania.
Enrolment in higher education at Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD levels needs to be maintained
to a degree that allows Romania to reach its objectives and fosters smart economic growth.
Curricula tailored to labour market needs have to be developed and the National
Qualifications Framework should be harmonised with the European Qualifications
Framework by setting up the National Qualifications Register for all levels of training.
A culture of quality should be created for youth by engaging them in the curriculum self-
assessment processes.
An attractive scholarship scheme could be developed to offer all young people equal and
discrimination-free access to tertiary education.

1
Source: Eurostat (http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/statistics/search_database) accessed on
November 2, 2014
8
On-campus accommodation needs to be expanded in order to enable rural youth to access
tertiary education (for the academic year 2014/15, campuses can accommodate a total of
107,467 students whereas the number of applications for accommodation is 131,464).
A broadband information infrastructure should be set up in all university campus learning and
living environments.
IT skills development courses should be financed for all youth in tertiary education,
regardless of the curriculum they pursue.
Lifelong learning (LLL) development at tertiary level provides opportunities for an easier
labour market insertion, given the regional development of Romania’s eight development
areas.
Minimum living conditions should be provided for obstacle-free youth access to tertiary
education, irrespective of origin, nationality, gender, social status, religion, etc.
The culture of volunteering should become part of the national education system alongside
relevant monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
Tertiary education funding schemes need to be provided for young people from disadvantaged
rural areas, Roma youth, young persons with disabilities, young people from low-income
families, youth from orphanages or placement centres, and young people with severe chronic
diseases.
Proper infrastructure offering young people living, sporting and leisure conditions should be
developed in university centres, cultural centres, sports and leisure clubs, etc.
Cultural centres should be set up for youth to socialise and develop their communication skills
throughout their studies.
Centres for entrepreneurship should be established in universities, enabling youth to develop

their entrepreneurial skills.
Start-up and spread-off programmes should be accessed for young students in order to
facilitate their labour market insertion and development of professional skills.
A framework enabling communication between youth and active generations within the
ALUMNI organisations should be created, while solidarity between different generations and
graduation classes needs to be developed.
1.3.4 Economic dimension

The branch-based Romanian economy is dominated by industry (which has a nearly 30%
contribution to GDP) and agriculture (approximately 30% of the workforce is employed in
this sector). Services, and in particular services with a high added value (information and
communications, finance and insurance, real estate, professional and administrative services)
9
are underrepresented when it comes to employment, compared to the EU-27 average (only
8% of all jobs are in the services sector). The public sector is relatively small in size and it
reflects the current limited capacity of the economy to generate tax revenue and support
public services.
While it reported an annual growth rate of 5-6% from 2001 to 2008 (with a sharp decline
during the crisis years that followed), Romania continues to lag far behind most European
countries in terms of economic development. GDP per capita based on purchasing power
parity was almost half the EU average in 20122.
1.3.5 Technological dimension

The technological capacity is reduced and indicates poor quality infrastructure (transportation,
ICT, etc.) and productivity rates which, in many industries, are not internationally
competitive3.

2
According to the Ministry of European Funds - Romanian Partnership Agreement for the 2014-2020
Programming Period, pg.6
3
Idem, pg.7
10
CHAPTER 2: YOUTH SITUATION IN ROMANIA
2.1 Youth status and Strategy target groups

Overall, the present Strategy refers to all youth, in accordance with the legal provisions in
force, but distinctions are made from one chapter to another, according to the area of analysis
and intervention and based on the available statistics by age group, gender and education
level, addressing various priority actions and analyzing for specific age ranges.
The Strategy tackles the situation of and policies for young people aged 14 to 35, as set out in
the Youth Law no. 350 of 21 July 2006. The analysis is broken down by age groups, namely
14/15-19, 20-24, 25-29 and 30-34/35, since most of the data that allow for benchmarking with
other countries – which is important because they may guide youth policies towards European
convergence – are available for these age groups. Each key area of intervention also targets
youth groups with specific characteristics:
a) For ‘Employment and entrepreneurship’: unemployed youth and the long-term
unemployed; young people in subsistence self-employment; young people not in
employment, education or training (NEETs); young people involuntarily hired on a
temporary and part-time basis; young people hired on low and very low wages; youth in
informal employment; young people who are overqualified or underqualified for their job
and youth who work in other areas than what they were trained for; young people who
want to start a business but lack the necessary resources; employers;
b) For ‘Formal and non-formal education and culture’: pupils and students; early school
leavers; young people who have completed general education (lower and upper secondary
education) but lack a qualification; young people with difficult access to education;
NEETs; young people with learning gaps;
c) For ‘Health, sports and leisure’: young drug and/or alcohol users; young people with
unhealthy eating habits; young persons with disabilities; young mothers aged 15-19;
young people infected with HIV/AIDS; young people affected by different mental
illnesses; young people whose lifestyle doesn’t include sporting or cultural activities;
d) For ‘Participation and volunteering’: youth involved in the NGO sector; young volunteers
and young people who attended non-formal classes and whose skills are not currently
acknowledged; young people with low level of engagement in the third sector and in
social and political life.
To contribute to the social inclusion of young people, apart from the four key areas of
intervention, the Strategy also includes measures and lines of action that address particular
target groups which can only benefit from support in a specific manner, with the participation
of all decision makers in sectoral policy domains: young people who have left the placement
centres; street youth; youngsters without housing access or prospects; Roma youth; young
11
people from pockets of poverty; youth with special educational needs; young victims of
exploitation; youth with HIV/AIDS; and young victims of discrimination.
The Strategy target groups also include formal entities involved in youth work and policies,
such as youth-led and youth-serving non-governmental organisations or those targeting young
people alongside other beneficiaries, public services, youth centres/clubs, student cultural
centres, student unions, ALUMNI associations, youth workers, etc.
2.2 Challenges and expected results
2.2.1 Dynamics of youth population

Over 6 million young people aged 15-34 live in Romania.
Their share in the total population has constantly dropped, from 32.1% in 2003 to 28.6% in
20124, due to a combination of several factors: increasing life expectancy, declining birth rate,
and emigration, the latter involving youth to a much greater extent than other age groups5.
Although Romania’s youth rate exceeds the EU-27 average, namely 25.1% in 2012, in the last
10 years it has registered a sharper decrease. Eurostat projections indicate a steep decline of
the share of youth population in the total population by 2060, with Romania being one of the
countries greatly affected by this trend since it has fallen below the EU-27 average in 2015
and the gap will continue to widen until 2060. In 2011, Romania’s fertility rate was 1.3, well
below the EU-27 average of 1.6.
Indicators for tracking the impact of youth policies on the youth situation
Contextual indicators
‐ Child population – the total number of people in the age group 0-14 living in a Member
State of the EU on January 1st (source: Eurostat demographic data)
‐ Youth population – the total number of people in the age groups 15-19, 20-24 and 25-29
living in a Member State of the EU on January 1st (source: Eurostat demographic data)
‐ The ratio of young people in the total population – young people (age groups 15-19, 20-24
and 25-29) as a share of the total population living in a Member State of the EU (source:
Eurostat demographic data)
‐ Average age of young people leaving the parental household – average age of young
people leaving home (source: Eurostat demographic data, EU LFS – EU Labour Force
Survey).

4
Eurostat
5
Nearly 80% of the young people officially reported as emigrants in 2011 were 18 to 40 years old. Source: The
National Institute of Statistics, TEMPO database
12
2.3 Youth poverty and forms of social exclusion
Regardless of the method used to measure poverty, children and youth have constantly been
the most at-risk age groups over the last decades.
More than a quarter of the 18 to 24 year-olds live in relative poverty6 (28.1% in 2011), which
places Romania among the top three worst-off countries in the EU-27. At the same time, the
rate has been rising in recent years.
More than a third of the young people are at risk of poverty or social exclusion7, namely
40.3%, compared to 24.3% in the EU-28. Romania’s overall population is faced with a
considerably lower risk of poverty or social exclusion (24.3%).
In Romania, 60% of the young people between the ages of 18 and 34 live with their parents,
as opposed to 48.5% in the EU-288. Romania has the highest population living in
overcrowded dwellings9 in the EU-27, except for Hungary. With an average of 2.9 people per
household, it has the largest number of household members in the EU-28, at a tie with
Bulgaria, Croatia and Malta. Labour market constraints, increasingly tougher for young
people, and lack of access to independent living options are some of the factors that lead to
delaying important family life decisions. Age at first marriage rose between 1990 and 2010,
from 22 to 26 years for women and from 25 to 29.1 years for men. The average age of women
at birth of first child also increased considerably, from 22.4 to 26 years over the same
period10. Due to the economic crisis, nearly 1 in 10 young people reports having to give up on
school, delay marriage or having a child11.
Partially due to the high share of rural population, 43.3% of youth aged 12-17 are faced with
severe housing deprivation: they live in an overcrowded home and are affected by at least one
other inadequate housing issue (poorly insulated roof, no indoor bathroom/toilet/shower or
inadequate indoor lighting). Romania’s severe housing deprivation rate is over four times
higher than the European average.

6
According to Eurostat methodology, the relative poverty rate measures the proportion of the population living
on less than 60% of the national median equivalised disposable income, being thus more of an inequality
indicator and not informing about the actual economic resources available to individuals for their needs, but only
about national income distribution; young people are also at a greater risk in terms of absolute poverty, an
indicator measuring the percentage of people below the threshold that is required to ensure a minimum standard
of living, and in this regard they are poorer even than children. In 2011, the poverty rate was 5.0% for the total
population , 8.4% for young people aged 15-19, 7.6% for 20-24-year-olds, 6.0% for 25-29-year-olds, and 4.6%
for 30-34-year-olds; in 2011, the child poverty rate was 6.1% for the age group 0-5 and 7.7% for 6-14-year-olds
(source: the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Protection and the Elderly).
7
An indicator measuring the income distribution, using the relative poverty rate, as well as (i) the access to basic
goods and services, using the severe material deprivation rate, and (ii) the access to income on the labour market,
using the indicator related to the very low work intensity (the amount of time spent working by economically
active household members).
8
Eurostat, data for 2011
9
The dwelling overcrowding rate is measured by considering the number of rooms in a household, the number
of members, and their age and family status.
10
For age at first marriage and age at birth of first child, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe,
http://w3.unece.org
11
BOPT-2012 (2012 Youth Public Opinion Barometer, Romania)
13
In Romania, gender discrimination among the highly educated youth reaches a level which
compensates for historical imbalances. Thus, women currently (in the academic year 2014/15)
make up for 50.90% of undergraduates in the public education system, 55.41% of all
undergraduates, and 44.48% of PhD students (source: Ministry of National Education).
2.4 Employment and entrepreneurship
2.4.1 Employment
Romania’s employment rate12 among the population aged 20-64 (63.9% in 2013) is much
lower than the EU average (68.5% in 2012), with a national target of 70% by 202013. The age
group 30-34 registers an employment rate which is close to the European level (77.1% vs.
77.5%), while all the other age groups (15-19, 20-24, 25-29) are well below the EU-28
figures:
‐ in the first quarter of 2014, the youth employment rate (15-24 years) was 20.6%;14
‐ the decreasing demographic trend is one of the risk factors considered by the Strategy.
Between 2000 and 2012, Romania’s employment rate among the working-age population
(20-64 years) dropped by 5.7 percentage points, by 8.7 percentage points among people
aged 55-64, and by 6.9 pp in the case of women aged 20 to 6415;
‐ during 2008-2012, Romania reported NEET shares above the European average, with
most NEETs being identified in 2011 when they accounted for 17.4% of the total
population aged 15-24, but their share dropped to 16.8% in 201216;
‐ in Romania, the NEET gender gap reaches 5%; thus, when analyzed by gender and
education level (2008-2012), the NEET share among 15-24-year-olds is 15.1% for boys
and 18.1% for girls;
‐ the unemployment rate has reached a record high (25.7%) among young people (15-24
years)17;
‐ the youth employment rate features major gaps between girls and boys in the age group
15-24; thus, the share of employed boys in this age group is 24.7%, while the share of

12
Persons in employment as a percentage of the total population from the same age group.
13
According to the European Commission, Recommendation for a Council Recommendation on Romania’s
2013 national reform programme and delivering a Council opinion on Romania’s convergence programme for
2012-2016 {SWD(2013) 373 final}, p. 4, available at http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/pdf/nd/csr2013_romania_
en.pdf
14
Employment and Unemployment in the First Quarter of 2014. Household Labour Force Survey (AMIGO),
available at http://www.insse.ro/cms/files/statistici/comunicate/somaj/somaj_Ie_14.pdf
15
Strategia Națională pentru Ocupare în perspectiva 2020 (The National Employment Strategy for 2020)
16
School Participation in Upper Secondary Education. A Challenge for the Current Policies in Romania, a study
developed by UNICEF Romania and the Institute of Education Sciences, 2014, available at
http://www.unicef.org/romania/Participarea_la_edu_inv_sec_en_site.pdf (accessed on October 24, 2014)
17
14
employed girls is 16.1% (with significant differences between urban and rural areas –
14.7% and 26.9%, respectively)18;
‐ just over 1 in 3 Romanian young people aged 20-24 have a job, compared to almost half
of the European young people;
‐ 67.5% of Romanian youth aged 25-29 have a job, versus 72.1% of the European youth.
Major discrepancies are seen at regional level. Thus, the lowest employment rates for 15-24-
year-olds are reported in the West (27.9%) and North‐West (27.6%) Regions, while other
regions like North‐East (36.4%) and South‐Muntenia (34.5%) perform much better.
Romanian young people have delayed and restricted access to the labour market and lower
earnings. Thus, Romania has the highest level of in-work poverty among youth aged 18-24:
30.7% of them were poor in 2011 (compared to 19% in the case of total employed population)
although they had a job, whereas the EU value was 11.2%. The rising income poverty of
youth is a further cause for concern: in 2008, at the onset of the economic crisis, 23.1% of the
employed youth were poor.
The Romanian youth faces a rigid labour market, lacking flexible forms of employment that
would allow them to continue school while working. In Romania, only 17.3% of the
employed youth in the age group 15-24 worked part-time jobs in 2010 as opposed to 28.9% in
the EU-28. Almost three quarters were involuntarily hired as part-time workers, unlike at the
European level where pretty much the same proportion of youth preferred this type of
employment. While 42.1% of young people aged 15-24 employed in the EU hold temporary
jobs, only 3.1% of Romanian youth are working on a temporary basis19. Temporary or part-
time employment stands out more as a barrier for youth entry into the labour market rather
than as a feature of a flexible labour market that provides alternative forms of employment20.
The youth holding informal jobs, mainly in subsistence farming, represent one of the most
vulnerable social groups. Over 40% of the people employed in the informal sector are aged 15
to 34.21
The International Labour Organization (ILO) unemployment rate for the overall population is
7%, rather low within the EU context (in 2012), whereas an alarming rate of 22.7% is
registered among people under 25.22 Furthermore, the unemployment rate among the age
group 25-34 (8.6%) is higher than for the entire working-age population. The access to
European resources under the Youth Employment Initiative depends on youth unemployment
as measured in 2012. Three of Romania’s development regions (NUTS 2) - Centre, South-
Muntenia and South-East - registered a youth unemployment rate (15-24 years) of over 25%

18
19
Data source for temporary and part-time employment: Eurostat
20
According to the document analysis conducted for the Partnership Agreement (coordinated by the Ministry of
European Funds)
21
2009 Report of the Presidential Commission for Social and Demographic Risks Assessment
22
Eurostat
15
in 2012, becoming eligible for European financial aid under the aforementioned Initiative23.
The data on youth unemployment at regional level highlight significant regional differences,
with rates ranging from 36.3% in the Centre to 11.9% in the North‐East.
Much of youth unemployment is chronic and stretches over more than 6 months, with long-
term youth unemployment reaching 59.9% in 2013. Contrary to global trends, a particular risk
for Romania is that completion of tertiary education doesn’t improve the chances for success
on the labour market. Thus, in 2012, the ILO unemployment rate was 10.3% for people aged
25-29 with upper secondary or post-secondary education, and 10.9% among higher education
graduates. The latter’s entry into the labour market is hindered by employers’ preference for
experienced candidates24.
In 2012, 16.8% of Romanian young people were classified as NEETs (young people between
the ages of 15 and 24 not in employment, education or training), compared to 13.2% of youth
in the EU-2725. After many years of decline at the European level, the NEET share stopped
fluctuating in 2008 only to rise as a result of the economic crisis. Romania also witnessed an
increase in its NEET rate, from 11.6% in 2008 to 17.7% in 2011, though the rate slightly
improved over the past year.
2.4.2 Entrepreneurship
Approximately one quarter of the Romanian young people (27%)26 would like to start a
business. Youngsters prefer industries like trade, services and consulting (30%), followed by
agriculture, animal husbandry, fish farming and forestry (18%). In Romania, 1 in 100 young
people decides to start his/her own business, compared to 1 in 4 in the Czech Republic,
Poland or Hungary27. The most frequently mentioned obstacles are lack of money and
bureaucracy.28 European statistics indicate that Romania attaches little importance to
entrepreneurial education and therefore less than 10% of those who have started and expanded

23
The unemployment rate is calculated as the ratio between the number of unemployed people as defined
according to the ILO criteria and the total working-age population; the regions most affected by ILO
unemployment are not identical to those with low employment rates (mentioned above in the Strategy) because
of the different methods used to calculate the two indicators.
24
Absolvenţii recenţi de învăţământ superior şi integrarea lor pe piaţa muncii, DOCIS, Bucureşti, 2010 (Recent
Higher Education Graduates and Their Labour Market Integration, DOCIS project, Bucharest, 2010)
25
Eurostat; the EU Youth Report 2012 shows that the most serious cases are reported in Romania, Bulgaria,
Ireland, Greece, Spain and Italy and that the share of youth not in employment, education or training is greater
among higher education graduates in only 7 countries, including Romania.
26
27
EU reports use the self-employment rate as an indicator for measuring entrepreneurship, but in Romania it has
a more complex meaning, part of the self-employed youth being engaged in subsistence employment in
agriculture or, sometimes, other sectors.
28
Programul pentru stimularea înfiinţării şi dezvoltării microîntreprinderilor de către întreprinzătorii tineri –
S.R.L.-D (The Programme for Stimulating the Establishment and Development of Micro-Enterprises by Young
Entrepreneurs – SRL-D, available in Romanian at http://www.aippimm.ro/articol/programe/proiecte-proceduri-
de-implementare-si-ghiduri-ale-solicitantilor-programe-nationale-2013/ghidul-solicitantului-in-cadrul-
programului-pentru-stimularea-infiintarii-si-dezvoltarii-microintreprinderilor-de-catre-intreprinzatorii-tineri)
16
a business have relevant theoretical knowledge, as opposed to 30% of Europeans on
average.29
2.4.3 Expected results

Given the situation described above, the Strategy includes specific objectives and lines of
action aimed at improving youth participation in the labour market – both in quantitative and
qualitative terms, empowering youth to develop and capitalise on their professional potential,
building youth capacity to search for, find and land a job suitable to their professional training
and skills, supporting them in starting and expanding their own business, helping them start a
family, and providing them with the environment that enables them to enjoy work-life balance
and fosters wider participation in the social, cultural, civic and political life at national and
European levels. By doing so, the Strategy pays special attention to young people who, for
various reasons, may have fewer opportunities and defines lines of action for youth at high
risk of becoming economically inactive and victims of chronic poverty: the long-term
unemployed and the NEETs.
The Strategy addresses issues that are specific to the Romanian labour market, such as
massive informal employment, false employment in the form of subsistence self-employment,
job insecurity, income poverty, limited access to continuing training on the labour market, as
well as other forms of occupational exclusion, and its implementation is expected to reduce
the incidence of such phenomena.
2.5 Formal and non-formal education and culture

The population aged 15 to 24 registers an overall school participation rate of 55.8%, 5.2
percentage points lower than the level recorded in the EU-27.
In 2012, the proportion of early school leavers was 17.4%, hardly lower than the previous
year, while Romania set a target of 11.3% by 2020. These people have completed lower
secondary education at most and are not in education or training, risking unemployment and
inactivity. Thus, the percentage of youth not in employment, in education or training is one
fifth higher than the European level. More than 1 in 5 young people leave school early in the
North-East and South-Muntenia regions. The highest dropout rates – over 2%30 – are reported
in the first years of compulsory education, the rate being somewhat lower in the other school
years.
Youth perceive the high costs of schooling (54%) as being the main obstacle to continuing
education, while the second obstacle is their lack of appreciation for education (17%). At the

29
Programul Naţional pentru dezvoltarea antreprenoriatului de tineret, Patronatul Tinerilor Întreprinzători din
România (The National Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme, Romanian Young Entrepreneurs’
Association)
30
Copiii care nu merg la școală. O analiză a participării la educație în învățământul primar și gimnazial, ISE
2012 (The Children Who Don’t Go to School. An Analysis of School Participation in Primary and Secondary
Education, Institute of Education Sciences, 2012)
17
same time, 1 in 10 young people views the lack of family support and having to earn a living
and to work as additional barriers.31
During the academic year 2010/11, the transition-to-high school rate rose to 93% versus
67.8% in 2008/2009, which may be explained by the dissolution of the Schools of Arts and
Trades whose seats were transferred to high schools. The past three years witnessed a steep
decrease in the Baccalaureate success rate.
The share of tertiary graduates in the total population aged 30-34 was 21.8% in 2012, well
below the EU-27 average (35.8%)32, though higher than the level registered in 2007 (13.3%).
The target pursued by Romania in the Europe 2020 framework is 26.7%. Also, the age group
25-29 registers a much lower value than the European average with regard to upper secondary
and tertiary educational attainment.
PISA standard test results place Romania among the poorly performing countries in the three
areas of assessment: reading, mathematics, and science, the low achievement being flagged by
the EU Youth Report as well (out of 65 participating countries, Romania ranks 47th-49th,
according to the type of skills).33
Young people believe that the main problems with the education system are the insufficient
practical applications (69%) and the insufficient or absent extracurricular activities (67%).34
2.5.1 The transition from education to employment and system correlation

A recent European Commission report35 shows that there is a good vertical match between the
Romanian education system and the labour market, as the shares of employees who are
overqualified or underqualified in relation to their job demands are low compared to other
European countries. However, horizontal correlation is at its worst, since many graduates
work in sectors which are different than their fields of study.
According to Romania’s 2020 targets, the rate of employees aged 20-34 who completed
education and training in the previous three years should be at least 82%. The latest statistical
data available (2011) indicate a percentage of 70.1%36. Over the last years, the number of
graduates between the ages of 20 and 34 integrated into the labour market registered a
decreasing trend. The record high was hit in 2008, 84.8%, followed by a gradual decline.
The 2012 Youth Public Opinion Barometer data reveal that only 18% of young people believe
that school meets labour market demands.

31
32
Eurostat
33
According to The Global Information Technology Report 2012, World Economic Forum’s Centre for Global
Competitiveness and Performance, Romania ranks 90th out of 142 states, with a score of 3.3 on a scale of 1 to 7
as regards the quality of the education system.
34
35
Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2012, Commission Staff Working Document, 2013,
available at http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/13/st05/st05571-ad09.en13.pdf
36
Eurostat
18
2.5.2 Non-formal education and participation in lifelong learning
In 2011, only 1.6% of the total working-age population participated in lifelong learning
programmes, versus 8.9% in the EU-27.
In Romania, the concept of continuing education has not been fully embraced yet. In 2011,
the average participation in education for the 25-34 age group was 15% in the EU-27 and
4.1% in Romania. The proportion of young employees aged 15 to 24 who participated in
formal or non-formal education was 2.1% in 2011, 11.4 percentage points lower than the
European average. In rural areas, there is a shortage of vocational programme providers, the
specific projects under the Development of Human Resources Sectorial Operational
Programme accounting for some of the few opportunities available in this respect.
Only 10% of Romanian young people stayed abroad for formal or non-formal educational
purposes, a rather low percentage when compared to the European average (14%) or to the ten
EU countries reporting more than 20%37. Only 1 in 5 enterprises provided training to their
staff in 2011, approximately 10% less than in 200538.
2.5.3 Youth and ICT usage

Nearly 80% of European young people between the ages of 15 and 24 use the computer and
the Internet on a daily basis. Here too, Romania is one of the countries reporting low indicator
values (below 50%), much like Bulgaria, Ireland and Greece39.
2.5.4 Culture
All comparative research data aggregated by age group show high levels of youth
involvement in different cultural activities40. Nevertheless, the participation of Romanian
young people in cultural activities cannot be regarded as high and it is rather occasional. A
quarter of the young people say they never read literature, 8% do that every day, 20% read 2-3
times a week, 24% 2-3 times a month, while 20% read literature only 2-3 times a year41.
61% of the young people reported never going to the theatre, opera, ballet or classical music
concerts, 49% don’t go to the movies, and 48% don’t go to modern music concerts.
Romania ranks last among European countries as regards the rate of concert- and movie-
going, with just over 60% of the young people having done this in the past year. Romania is
one of the European countries with low percentages of youth that visit monuments, museums
or galleries and of youth who attend a theatre, opera or dance performance.42

37
2011 Flash Eurobarometer - Youth on the Move
38
The National Institute of Statistics, Tempo database
39
Eurostat; according to the 2012 Youth Public Opinion Barometer, 80% of the youth use the computer and the
Internet daily or a few times a week.
40
European Commission 2007, 2012 EU Youth Report
41
42
19
Given the current state of affairs, the Youth Strategy intends to mobilise competent
institutions and organisations – whether governmental or non-governmental, in a concerted
effort to develop, improve the quality and increase the efficiency of formal and non-formal
education for young people, so as to better prepare them for work and life and to broaden their
cultural horizons.
The improvement of youth participation in non-formal education – underdeveloped in

Romania as shown by the situational analysis – will occur in parallel with the process of
increasing school system performance and relevance to the labour market and independent
adulthood. In Romania, non-formal education provides an opportunity to offset formal sector
deficits, in terms of education quality and capital, and increase professional skills and social
inclusion, as well as a means for shifting the way education is perceived, from viewing it as a
stage in the individuals’ initial development to promoting lifelong learning. The Strategy
seeks to improve the currently underdeveloped supply of non-formal education, but also to
raise people’s interest (particularly young people) in this type of learning.
Moreover, the Strategy aims to capitalize on the youth’s eagerness to participate in cultural
activities, as data indicate that there is room for improvement in this respect. To this end,
focus is placed on making culture more germane to many youngsters’ system of values,
addressing economic constraints which could block youth access to culture and improving the
cultural offer available to youth. A special challenge is that of increasing support for
culturally creative young people, given the economic constraints that affect art and culture
makers.
2.6 Health, sports and leisure
2.6.1 Health
With nearly one in ten children born in 2010 to a teenage mother aged 15-19, Romania
registers the highest birth rate in this age category in the EU-28, alongside Bulgaria.43 The
level is just 1.4 percentage points lower than in 2005. As a result of insufficient family
planning and reproductive health education, abortions to adolescents aged 15-19 accounted,
on average, for approximately 10% of all abortions recorded annually in the past years. In
2011, 1 in 10 Roma young women had their first child at the age of 12-15 and almost half of
them at 16-18.44
The persons living with HIV/AIDS are primarily young people aged 20 to 2945. Since
transmission is mainly via sexual intercourse and young people are a sexually active group,

43
Eurostat
44
Document analysis reports developed during the Ministry of European Funds-coordinated debates for the
drafting of the Partnership Agreement
45
Idem
20
the incidence of HIV/AIDS is likely to rise in the years to come, especially among at-risk
groups.46
The incidence of suicides among adolescents aged 15‐19 was 6.3 deaths per 100,000
inhabitants in 2010, approximately 50% higher than the European average. Romania reports a
7.2% rise compared to 2005, while the EU rate has seen a slight decline.47
Statistics indicate an increase in obesity, sedentary lifestyle, alcohol use and smoking at
relatively young ages and a rising incidence of drug use48.
Although Romania is one of the countries with lower drug use rates, there has been a
worrisome increase in psychoactive substance use among 16-year-olds, with a 10% rate in
2011, twice as high as in 200749. Nearly 1 in 3 young people smokes and 1 in 10 drinks
alcohol every day50.
2.6.2 Sports and leisure

Almost two thirds of the youth, namely 64%, engage in sporting activities only a few times a
month. Nearly one in three young people declares he/she doesn’t exercise at all.51
According to the 2009 Sports Yearbook data, there are major differences between counties as
regards the availability of sports facilities, higher in the South and Centre and lower in the
West and Northwest. Interestingly enough, the regions with fewer sports facilities organised
more school competitions in 2008 than those that were better equipped.
Although the number of sports facilities affiliated to relevant federations and the number of
sports instructors or coaches grew by more than 100% between 2005 and 2009, while a nearly
130% increase in the number of signed athletes was also reported in 2009 versus 2005,
participation in mainstream competitions such as those organised by schools has been
anything but impressive. Only 6 counties in the country report a somewhat higher number of
participants (over 10,000 annually), whereas in most counties rates are low (14 counties have
reported between 3,000 and 5,000 participants) or even insignificant (9 counties have reported
less than 2,000 participants per year).52
Youth fall into three categories: those who have about 3-4 hours of spare time every day
during the week, those who have 1-2 leisure hours, and those who enjoy over 5 hours of free

46
Strategia HIV/AIDS (HIV/AIDS Strategy) 2009-2014 draft
47
Eurostat
48
49
Rezultatele studiului naţional în şcoli privind consumul de tutun, alcool şi droguri (ESPAD 2011) – Sinteză,
ANA și MS (2011) (Results of the National School Survey on Alcohol, Tobacco and Drug Use (ESPAD 2011) –
Synthesis, National Anti-drug Agency and the Ministry of Health). National survey conducted on 16-year-old
upper secondary education students, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 cohorts. The 2012 Youth Public Opinion
Barometer data indicate similar shares for all youth, 9% of them admitting to having used soft drugs at least
once.
50
51
52
Anuarul Sportului 2009 (2009 Sports Yearbook, Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports)
21
time53, with shares ranging between 35% and 22%. Five per cent declare they have no spare
time whatsoever during the week, which can pose health and developmental risks.
Only one in ten young people states he/she never gets together with his/her friends, over one
third of them get to see their friends several times a week, 17% of young people spend time
with their friends every day and 22% see their friends two or three times a month. The vast
majority of the youth (4/5), watch TV every day.
66.4% of young people were pleased with their spare-time activities, which shows that, apart
from diversified and quality leisure options, youngsters also need guidance to make the most
of their free time.
According to a UNICEF study54, 90% of adolescents spend over eight hours a day involved in
the following activities: watching TV, surfing the Internet, and playing video games. Half of
the adolescents engage in all three types of activities every day for more than 8 hours. This
has a significant impact on the other activities they carry out and, of course, on their
development. It may very well be that adolescents lack other means of spending their spare
time and socialising with their peers.
Only four of the 48 public higher education establishments have swimming pools, which
indicates a shortage of sports facilities available to students.

With its specific objectives and lines of action, the Youth Strategy tries to focus attention on
the development of physically and mentally healthy youth, promoting the ‘mens sana in
corpore sano’ principle and building on the resources related to leisure opportunities and
engagement in sports.
When it comes to youth in general, the main concern is improving health education, family
planning and mother and child health care. The large number of births and abortions among
adolescents under 19 raises the alarm and containing this phenomenon represents a particular
challenge for this Strategy.
The Strategy seeks to contribute significantly with relevant measures to the protection of
young people living with HIV/AIDS and of those at risk of suicide, increasingly present on
the decision makers’ agenda.
The Strategy aims to combat unhealthy behaviours such as smoking, fast-food eating habits,
drinking, drug use, but reducing their incidence is a serious challenge because they are
promoted by different subcultures popular among youth and some of them through aggressive
advertising.

53
The other data presented in this section come from BOPT-2012 (2012 Youth Public Opinion Barometer,
Romania)
54
State of Adolescents in Romania, 2013 Final Report, UNICEF, Center for Urban and Regional Sociology,
Institute of Education Sciences
22
The Strategy also aims to increase the practice of sports among the youth, both as an
opportunity to combat different social pathologies and as a means of youth social and
biological development.
According to research data, the way in which young people spend their spare time indicates
that they are in need of diversified and quality leisure options and counselling to make the
most of their free time, and the Strategy intends to help achieve these objectives.
2.7 Participation and volunteering

Romania is one of the European countries with the lowest level of engagement in voluntary
activities (together with Greece, Italy, Hungary, Poland and Sweden) given that not even one
in five young people engages in such activities.55 29% of the young people say they would be
willing to join a non-governmental organisation – like an association or foundation – as
volunteers56. Most youth, however, give negative answers (53%) and the others are not sure if
they would like to do this (16%). Almost 4 in 5 young people are not familiar with any active
NGO in their home community, whereas 5% are involved in one. The vast majority of
youngsters (almost half) believe that the main measure that should be taken to encourage
youth participation in voluntary activities would be to inform young people about the
opportunities for participation.
Most youth show little or no interest in politics57. European politics stir the least interest,
followed by local and national politics (in all three cases, over 60% of the young people are
uninterested or little interested in such matters). Still, the actual decisions made by central
authorities trigger greater interest, with more than half of youth declaring that they are
interested in these.
Young people with tertiary education engage as volunteers only if the experience they gain
from voluntary activities gives them a competitive edge to build on during their working
years. The regulation of volunteering is a required yet insufficient condition for Romania as
the experience gained by those involved in this social phenomenon needs to be valued and
capitalised on. Hence, a methodology should be developed to assess volunteering at both
individual and societal levels in order to identify the inherent variables of process
performance.

With its specific objectives and lines of action, the Youth Strategy seeks to support youth
development in Romania through volunteer engagement and active civic participation, setting
the operational and legal frameworks for implementing policies that use all available
resources and involve all stakeholders towards achieving this goal.
In addition to increasing youth involvement, the Strategy also aims (in the short-term) to

55
56
57
Idem
23
tackle specific issues related to the formal organisation and recognition of voluntary activities,
as the Romanian society’s low regard for these activities also reflects on the poor quality of
the relevant laws. In order to change young people’s feeling of being disconnected from their
society’s major decision-making process, the most important action is to value their
involvement every step of the way, from participating in issues pertaining to management
structures to engaging in the resolution of community problems. Schools, NGOs and central
and local public government authorities each hold a share of responsibilities in this effort to
tap into the youth potential for generating sustainable social development.
2.8 Youth groups affected by social exclusion58

1) Homelessness59 has turned chronic in the last two decades. There are no official statistics
regarding the number of children and young people living in the street. In 2009, Save the
Children ran an estimate in three large cities, Bucharest, Braşov, and Constanţa. The
number of children thus identified was nearly 1,400. Most of them live in the capital city
(around 1,150). Less than half are children (0‐17 years) and most of them are young
people aged 18‐35.
2) Approximately 5,000 children leave child care each year, being vulnerable and risking
poverty and/or social exclusion60. Most children in residential care are 14-17 years old,
followed by those aged 10-13. The services aimed at social and professional integration
and independent living skills development are underdeveloped.61
3) Youth from pockets of poverty. Although overall poverty, and youth poverty in particular,
is higher in rural areas, pockets of extreme poverty have emerged in urban areas in the
past decades. There, children and youth are the largest demographics (over 60%) whereas
people aged 60 and over make up for less than 10% of the total population.62
4) Roma youth. 33.6% of the Roma were poor in 201163, registering an absolute poverty rate
6.7 times higher than the national average. The Roma account for only 3.3% of the total
population, yet 21.9% of the poor are Roma ethnics. Poverty rates are significantly higher
among Roma children: 27.3% of Roma children in urban areas versus 2% of Romanian
children and 41.1% versus 10.6% in rural areas. Only 17% of the Roma attend vocational
school, high school or higher education.
5) Adolescents with at least one parent abroad. According to a less recent survey,
approximately 170,000 lower secondary school children had at least one parent working

58
“Social exclusion is a process whereby certain individuals are pushed to the edge of society and prevented
from participating fully by virtue of their poverty, or lack of basic competencies and lifelong learning
opportunities, or as a result of discrimination” (European Commission, 2005)
59
Homeless adults are defined as the persons who practically live in the street, in improvised dwellings or
temporarily accommodated in special shelters
60
The Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Protection and the Elderly
61
Document analysis report developed during the Ministry of European Funds-coordinated consultations for the
62
Idem. The report quotes the research studies of: Rughiniş (2000); Stănculescu and Berevoescu (coord., 2004);
Sandu (2005); Berescu et al. (2006); Berescu et al. (2007); CPARSD (2009); Stănculescu (coord., 2010);
Botonogu (coord., 2011).
63
The Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Protection and the Elderly
24
abroad64. These children are raised by the remaining parent or, where both parents are
missing, by a relative in the best case scenario, or by someone close. Young people in this
situation face a higher risk of dropping out and going off course into adulthood, their
being abandoned by one or both parents, even temporarily, having potential lifelong
consequences.
6) Young people living with HIV/AIDS. Young people aged 20-25 account for
approximately 60% of the people living with HIV/AIDS in Romania, following a surge of
nosocomial infections in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Sexual transmission is reported in 4
out of 5 cases diagnosed in the past years, particularly among young people between the
ages of 15 and 29, with a peak among those aged 20 to 2465. These persons are often faced
with a combination of social exclusion factors, from discrimination to lack of access to
jobs or adequate and dedicated health care.
7) Victims of labour and sexual exploitation. The vast majority of reported victims are young
and very young, especially as regards sexual exploitation, but also in the case of labour
exploitation. The average age of the identified victims was 24, but increased vulnerability
is seen at the age of 17, when the highest incidence of cases overall is registered66. Female
victims, accounting for 65% of all victims, are most at risk around the age of 21. Minors
make up for approximately one quarter of all trafficked persons, especially those in the
14-17 age range and those who come from broken families or placement centres67.
8) Teenage mothers. In 2010, almost one in ten children was born to young women aged 15
to 19. Beyond associated health risks, most early pregnancies perpetuate intergenerational
poverty and social exclusion.
9) Young people discriminated on the basis of age, gender, ethnicity, citizenship, sexual
orientation. In a recent survey, respondents stated that the most discriminated against
social groups were the Roma, people with physical or mental disabilities, people with
HIV/AIDS, the homeless, orphans and drug addicts68. According to the same survey, 31%
of Romanians say they would feel quite/very uneasy around a homosexual.
10) Young people with disabilities. Disability is a major determinant of adolescent behaviour,
with a great influence on teenagers’ relationship with peers, school and close social
environment69. According to the data published by the Ministry of Labour (The National
Authority for People with Disabilities), there are more than 10,000 people with disabilities
in the age group 15-17. We could estimate between 80 and 100 thousand people with

64
The Effects of Migration: The Children Left Behind, Soros Foundation Romania, 2007
65
Strategia Națională HIV/SIDA 2011-2015 (The National HIV/AIDS Strategy 2011-2015)
66
Raport privind situația traficului de persoane în anul 2012, Agenția Națională împotriva Traficului de
Persoane (2012 Human Trafficking Report, The National Agency against Trafficking in Persons)
67
Document analysis report developed during the Ministry of European Funds-coordinated consultations for the
68
Research Report. Discrimination in Romania: Perceptions and Attitudes, TNS CSOP Romania, The National
Council for Combating Discrimination, 2012
69
State of Adolescents in Romania, 2012 Final Report, UNICEF, Center for Urban and Regional Sociology,
Institute of Education Sciences
25
disabilities in the age range of 14-34 (out of a total of nearly 700,000 persons with
disabilities in Romania). According to the cited sources, approximately 6,000 young
people with disabilities are in residential care and up to 5-600 are employed (from a total
of 1,000 in the overall population). This means that a very large number (over 70,000) of
young people with disabilities are in their family’s care, most of them jobless and almost
completely isolated from society.

Under each of its four key areas of intervention, the Strategy sets down a series of specific
objectives and lines of action targeting adolescents and youth with increased social
vulnerability, as well as others aimed to promote social inclusion and combat youth poverty.
Social inclusion is strategically central to this document, but for some seriously challenged
adolescents and young people it cannot be achieved through sectoral measures that address
the youth in general, but only through integrated cross-sectoral interventions directed at
vulnerable groups.
Given the incidence of youth poverty previously described, the Strategy is designed to join in
the efforts of fighting against this phenomenon. Youth access to independent living options
and adequate housing conditions is expected to improve, enabling young people to start
autonomous households.
The Strategy aims to considerably improve the situation of certain adolescent and youth
groups at high risk of social exclusion. A major challenge is that these young people’s
problems have turned chronic during the transition period. The Strategy therefore tackles
street adolescents and youth, poor Roma adolescents and youngsters, adolescents and young
people leaving residential care, adolescents and youth from pockets of poverty, teenage and
young victims of labour and sexual exploitation, adolescents and youth abandoned by their
families, young people with HIV/AIDS, teenage mothers, and young people discriminated on
the basis of different criteria: age, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.
26
CHAPTER 3: STRATEGY DESIGN

3.1 Strategy overall goal
To support active youth participation in the country’s economic, social, educational, cultural
and political life while providing equal opportunities for access to education, employment and
decent living conditions, with a special focus on the adolescents and young people who, for
various reasons, may have fewer opportunities.
3.2 Strategy principles

a) The principle of global and integrated approach – a strategy that covers all the important
areas of adolescent and youth life and ensures its objectives are achieved through the
integrated intervention of public authorities and other relevant entities.
b) The principle of knowledge-based policies – make well-informed and scientifically

substantiated policy decisions.
c) The principle of recognising youth as a resource for sustainable development –

acknowledge all adolescents and young people as a resource for society and ensure
youth’s right to participate in the development of policies that concern them via an
ongoing structured dialogue with young people and with youth-led and youth-serving
non-governmental organisations.
d) The principle of cooperation – foster cooperation between central and local public
government authorities and youth-led and youth-serving non-governmental organisations
(YNGOs)70 in all youth life matters.
e) The principle of non-discrimination – ensure non-discrimination and equal access to youth

programmes, services and activities financed from public sources, regardless of race,
gender, age, religion, ethnicity, social origin, sexual orientation, political views, or any
other characteristics.
f) The principle of tolerance – promote tolerance and acceptance of differences in all youth
programmes and youth work establishments financed from public and private sources.
g) The principle of solidarity – consider the existence of potential differences in young

people’s living conditions, needs, aspirations, interests and attitudes induced by a variety

70
Under this Strategy, ‘youth-led and youth-serving non-governmental organisations’, YNGOs for short, refer
to all pupil, student and other youth associations, Bucharest and county youth foundations set up under the
Decree-Law No 150/1990, as subsequently amended and supplemented, youth wings of trade unions and
political parties/organisations, as well as non-governmental organisations whose objectives and/or programmes
and activities are addressed to youth in general or to specific groups of young people.
27
of factors, and pay special attention to those who, for various reasons, may have fewer
opportunities.
h) The principle of participatory approach – ensure the greatest possible youth participation
in the public life and encourage young people to take on individual or joint
responsibilities.
i) The principle of continuity and coordination – ensure continuity and coordination in the
public policy planning and implementation process.
j) The principle of subsidiarity – the exercise of powers by the local public government
authority which is at the administrative level closest to the citizen and holds the required
administrative capacity.
k) The principle of results-based management – ensure that all the entities responsible for
implementing youth policies, programmes and measures possess results-based
management capacity.
l) The principle of transparency – ensure transparency of and access to adequate information

and information technologies for all youth and entities involved in Strategy
implementation.
m) The principle of early intervention – include, where appropriate, a child policy dimension
related to child rights and protection, considering that young people’s life and future
prospects are significantly determined by the opportunities, support and protection
received during childhood.
n) The principle of the minimum required infrastructure – ensure the minimum infrastructure
required in society for implementing the Youth Strategy to an extent similar to EU states.
o) The principle of sports as a way of life – scale up mainstream sports among young people.
3.3 Key areas of intervention, specific objectives and lines of action
3.3.1 Non-formal education and culture
Specific objectives
I. Ensure access to quality formal and non-formal training and education for all
adolescents and young people
Lines of action
a. Develop youth activities (youth work), counselling and non-formal learning opportunities
for the groups which are at high risk of early school leaving;
28
b. Expand school counselling and vocational guidance by increasing the number of
counsellors and diversifying counselling networks (not only in educational establishments,
but also in youth centres, student cultural centres, YNGOs, community-based lifelong
learning centres) as well as by providing as much counselling coverage as possible to
young people who are no longer in school but are faced with professional and social
difficulties;
c. Implement prevention, intervention and compensation measures to reduce early school

leaving, including alternative education such as adult education and training, with a focus
on rural areas and Roma youth;
d. Support rural and disadvantaged youth in order to increase their access, participation and
educational attainment, including at the level of tertiary education;
e. Ensure a minimum material resources base for all the entities involved at the level of
society in providing youth access to culture and education.
II. Improve the non-formal education offer
Lines of action
a. Extend voluntary and YNGO activities that offer non-formal education opportunities;
b. Make curricula, including at the level of higher education, more relevant to labour market
needs and strengthen partnerships between educational establishments, enterprises and
research institutes;
c. Increase the attractiveness of the non-formal education supply promoted by educational

establishments, youth centres, student cultural centres and youth-led and youth-serving
non-governmental organisations;
d. Add a youth resource component to youth and student cultural centres in order to offer
training, consulting, project development guidance, youth project management consulting;
e. Organise youth and student cultural centres in national networks with regional branches,
thus building their capacity to develop action strategies that better meet the specific needs
of youth/students from those regions, to join relevant international structures and to obtain
EU funding for their own projects to complement the state aid received for maintenance,
equipment and operation;
f. Involve student union confederations and ALUMNI organisations in youth programmes at

the level of higher education institutions;
g. Extend and support e-learning opportunities, conferences and webinars on youth-

requested topics;
29
h. Expand opportunities for learning foreign languages and developing transversal
competences (digital skills, communication skills, etc.);
i. Ensure financial contributions from central and local public government authorities and
access to European grants to develop an adequate education and training infrastructure,
including in the field of non-formal education for youth: one-stop learning and leisure
centres, community-based lifelong learning centres, student centres, holiday camps with
training facilities, cultural youth centres in rural areas, local clubs, complex sports and
leisure facilities, equipment for training activities;
j. Mobilise and guide governmental and non-governmental organisations and local

communities to engage in partnerships and viable cooperation in view of developing the
network of non-formal education providers and complex/integrated services centred on
youth needs;
k. Set up and implement an efficient system for cooperation between educational

establishments and public and private enterprises with a view to running pupil and student
internships.
III. Raise young people’s interest in participating in non-formal education activities
Lines of action
a. Support organisations that develop youth-oriented non-formal education projects;
b. Use educational establishments and YNGOs to inform youth about the non-formal
education opportunities under the European Erasmus+ Programme;
c. Progressively develop – between 2014 and 2018 – a system for the validation and
recognition of non-formal and informal learning outcomes in accordance with good
practices and advanced European experiences.
IV. Ensure more practical relevance of the skills acquired through formal and non-formal
education
Lines of action
a. Direct non-formal education primarily at areas that ensure the social integration of youth
and foster more active and responsible behaviours: citizenship education and information
on rights and obligations as young people and future adults, early entrepreneurial
education and guidance, occupational education, education for a healthy lifestyle,
parenting and parent education, etc;
b. Make curricula, including at the level of higher education, more relevant to labour market
needs and strengthen partnerships between educational establishments, enterprises and
research institutes;
30
a. Facilitate youth access to quality culture and cultural creation
Lines of action
a. Boost youth interest in exploiting local cultural traditions (Romanian or ethnic ones),
including through training in traditional trades (arts, crafts);
b. Stimulate youth interest in reading and literary creation;
c. Support and stimulate youth creativity and performance in various creative industries
(advertising, visual arts, performing arts, research and development, software, etc.);
d. Promote, support and reward the work of young talented artists and technical-scientific
innovators; encourage intercultural education both through traineeships and learning
experiences in other countries, via youth exchange programmes, and by providing
opportunities for getting to know the culture of national ethnic minorities;
e. Protect children and youngsters from the risks posed by new media usage, particularly
through relevant skills development, while recognising the benefits and opportunities that
such media can offer to young people;
f. Facilitate access to quality culture for rural youth through special measures aimed at local
cultural participation;
g. Offer support to youth-oriented forms of cultural expression, reflecting young people’s

concerns and interests;
h. Finance YNGO projects that tap into the tourist and cultural potential of the country;
i. Enhance media and online (social media) promotion of non-formal training and
education opportunities.
Indicators for tracking education and vocational training policy impact on youth situation
a) Early leavers from (the system of) education and vocational training– the percentage of
18-24 year-olds with only lower secondary school or less and no longer in (the system of)
education or vocational training (source: Eurostat, EU LFS);
b) Low achievers – the share of 15 year-olds who get a score of 1 or below (on a scale from
1 to 5) in PISA tests - reading, mathematics, science; EU target: reduce the share below
15% by 2020 (source: OECD – PISA);
c) Tertiary educational attainment – the share of the population aged 30-34 who have
completed tertiary-level education; EU target: increase the share to at least 40% by 2020
(source: Eurostat, EU LFS);
31
d) Young people (20-24 years old) having completed at least upper secondary education –the
share of the population aged 20-24 having completed at least upper secondary education
(ISCED 3C – long programmes) (source: Eurostat, EU LFS).
V. Improve funding of cultural activities
Lines of action
a. Encourage the private sector to contribute to the financing of cultural events;
b. Launch national programmes aimed at discovering and promoting highly creative young
people in cultural-artistic areas and at granting scholarships to valuable young artists;
c. Ensure profitable financial arrangements for the participation of talented young people
from disadvantaged background in the activities carried out by professional arts training
institutions;
d. Provide financial support to the establishments which promote cultural and artistic
activities for youth (youth centres, student cultural centres, clubs/groups managed by
youth-led and youth-serving non-governmental organisations) in order to ensure better
and more attractive conditions for youth participation in such activities.
Indicators for tracking cultural policy impact on youth situation

a) Undertaking/participating in amateur artistic activities – the share of young people (aged
15-30) who declare having participated in any of the following amateur artistic activities
at least once in the past 12 months: playing a musical instrument; singing; acting; dancing;
writing poetry; photography; film-making (source: DG EAC Flash Eurobarometer on
Youth);
b) Participation in cultural activities - the share of young people (15-30) who declare having
participated in any of the following cultural activities in the past 12 months: visited
historical monuments (palaces, castles, churches, gardens, etc.), visited museums or art
galleries, been to a cinema, a concert, a theatre, a dance performance, a ballet show or an
opera (source: DG EAC Flash Eurobarometer on Youth);
c) Participation in sports clubs, leisure-time or youth clubs/associations or cultural

organisations (source: DG EAC Flash Eurobarometer on Youth);
d) Learning at least two foreign languages – the share of young people in upper secondary
education (ISCED level 3 general programmes, excluding pre-vocational and vocational
education) learning two or more foreign languages (source: Eurostat data collection on
foreign language learning in schools).
32
3.3.2 Health, sports and leisure
Specific objectives
I. Support youth health and quality of life and prevent injuries, eating disorders,
substance use and addiction
Lines of action
a. Run school and high school campaigns on topics like health education, including
healthy eating and reproductive health;
b. Promote road safety education and defensive driving among youngsters;
c. Facilitate youth access to youth-friendly medical services and support enhanced

accessibility, efficiency and quality of public health education services, including their
delivery by the private sector or social enterprises;
d. Encourage peer health education by supporting projects aimed at STD prevention and
HIV harm reduction;
e. Carry out actions in line with the National Anti-Drug Strategy 2013-2020 to prevent
drug, alcohol and tobacco use among adolescents and young people.
II. Deliver education through sports and physical activity with the aim of fostering a
healthy lifestyle and development as active and responsible citizens, and encourage
young people to engage in sports and exercise in their spare time
Lines of action
a. Increase the number of children and young people who participate in sports, including
by developing the mainstream sporting competition system (for all);
b. Ensure access to sports facilities for pupils and children and offer young people the
chance to spend their spare time in the existing sports facilities;
c. Maintain physical education as a mandatory subject matter, in accordance with

framework plans, encourage pupils and students to practice a sport, and make physical
education school classes more attractive by including sporting activities favoured by
youngsters – fitness, aerobics;
d. Combat youth overweight and obesity through special fitness programmes;
e. Promote Romanian professional athletes as role models for young people;
f. Draw more on the opportunities created under European youth programmes in order to
encourage the practice of sports, experience exchanges and training in education through
sport;
33
g. Grasp the opportunities created under the ‘Europe for Citizens’ programme to support
youth practice of sports at beginner level;
h. Ensure that increasingly more young people engage in moderate intensity physical
activity for 30-60 minutes a day (including in sporting activities);
i. Attract young people with disabilities into practicing sports by offering them adequate
access, including in properly equipped youth and student centres;
j. Create the conditions for the entities involved in youth education to ensure the practice
of mainstream sports through community involvement in local, regional and national
competitions.
III. Improve leisure time opportunities for young people through both organised and
informal means
Lines of action
a. Extend the network of centres, clubs, leisure facilities managed by public and private
entities or under public-private partnerships, with low costs and utmost effectiveness in
attracting youth to different leisure activities;
b. Make more of the education system infrastructure (rooms, playfields, performance halls
in schools and universities) after school for the leisure activities conducted by youth
and/or YNGOs, in accordance with the applicable laws;
c. Involve YNGOs and youth in leisure facility development and management, including
on a volunteer basis;
d. Develop and improve the quality of holiday camps, student cultural centres, sports
facilities for youth, children’s clubs and centres, school sports clubs, and ensure
improved use of the already existing ones through their joint management by YNGOs –
local public government authorities – central public government authorities, whichever
applicable, or through public-private partnerships;
e. Provide facilitators and youth workers with professional training, development and
skills to attract young people to leisure activities that have a positive impact on their
personal development;
f. Provide guidance and support to local public government authorities in order to develop
the infrastructure needed for the practice of proximity sports: playfields, swimming
pools, skate parks, bike lanes, facilities for practicing sports and outdoor activities in the
green spaces available in the vicinity of communities, etc.;
g. Enable young people to get closer to active generations by organising meetings within
ALUMNI centres or professional clubs.
34
Indicators for tracking health, sports and leisure policy impact on youth situation
a) Regular smokers – the share of daily cigarette smokers in the young population aged 15-
24 (source: Eurostat, EHIS – European Health Interview Survey);
b) Obesity – young people aged 18-24 with a Body Mass Index of 30 or above (source:
Eurostat, EHIS);
c) Alcohol consumption in the past 30 days – the share of people in the target group (pupils
turning 16 during the year of the survey) who reported having had alcoholic beverages in
the past 30 days (source: ESPAD - European School Survey Project on Alcohol and
Other Drugs survey data);
d) Youth deaths by suicide – the number of deaths caused by suicide per 100,000 inhabitants
aged 15-24;
e) Psychological distress – young people (15-24) having suffered from psychological distress
in the past 4 weeks (source: Eurostat, EHIS, ECHIM #30(a) – European Community
Health Indicators Monitoring);
f) Injuries: road traffic – self-reported cases – the proportion of individuals aged 15-24
reporting to have had a road traffic accident, in the past 12 months, which resulted in
injury and required medical treatment (source: Eurostat, EHIS, ECHIM #30(a)).
3.3.3 Participation and volunteering
Specific objectives
I. Increase youth participation in community life, in all its social, educational, cultural,
economic and health aspects
Lines of action
a. Create more opportunities for youth participation in community life;
b. Support seminars, conferences and similar events to promote adolescent and youth
participation;
c. Promote successful models of participation to encourage youth to get involved in

community life;
d. Present to youth and parents the benefits, competences and skills they may gain through
volunteer engagement;
e. Reward the best initiatives and decisions involving youth participation at local level as
part of project competitions;
f. Set up research and consultation groups consisting of young people at the level of
territorial and administrative divisions (communes, towns, counties);
35
g. Increase youth motivation to participate in community life through project involvement;
h. Create funding opportunities for setting up or improving sustainable youth facilities at

local level;
i. Develop civic education in the formal education system;
j. Promote activities of interest for young people and tailor volunteering opportunities to
various youth groups;
k. Improve youth policy regulation, governance, transparency, and accessibility;
l. Ensure that, at the level of youth centres, student cultural centres and leisure facilities
for youth, strategic management is primarily conducted by YNGO representatives and
that executive management is exclusively appointed based on competence and utmost
transparency;
m. Create platforms that enable young people to report cases of abuse, corruption and fraud
in public institutions and run campaigns to encourage the use of such platforms;
n. Measure the impact of volunteering on individual performance and the personal

perception of gained experience from the economic agents’ perspective.
II. Increase youth participation in political life
Lines of action
a. Add political education notions to the civic education curriculum in the formal
education system;
b. Actively involve youth-led and youth-serving non-governmental organisations in

working to introduce civic and political education in the formal curriculum;
c. Increase voter turnout among young people with the help of mass media and
information points;
d. Ensure students’ right to vote in the community where they live throughout their studies;
e. Encourage youth involvement in mock decision-making processes to facilitate their

understanding of democratic mechanisms.
III. Increase participation of youth-led and youth-serving non-governmental organisations

in the structured dialogue
36
Lines of action
a. Make transparent decisions in the areas that directly affect young people;
b. Promote the involvement of youth-led and youth-serving non-governmental
organisations in the co-management of youth work and programme implementation;
c. Start and establish a dialogue with young people, allowing all stakeholders to contribute
with ideas in order to develop, agree on, implement and monitor youth policies and
programmes at all levels;
d. Promote a structured dialogue between political decision makers and the civil society in
order to effectively ensure youth involvement in the decisions that affect them.
IV. Create an environment that fosters volunteering in Romania
Lines of action
a. Align the Romanian legal framework related to volunteering to the European directives
by refining the framework law – Volunteering Law 195/2001;
b. Harmonise the framework law with other existing legislation (Youth Law 350/2006,
Law 351/2006 on the establishment, organisation and operation of the National Youth
Council of Romania, Law 146/2002 on the legal status of the Bucharest and county
youth foundations and of the National Youth Foundation, Law 333/2006 on the
establishment of youth information and counselling centres, Law 78/2014 on the
regulation of voluntary activities in Romania);
c. Build the capacity of youth-led and youth-serving non-governmental organisations

through financial and technical assistance mechanisms to enable the accessing of
national, European and international funds and ensure operational continuity;
d. Place volunteering, by way of law, under the responsibility of central public institutions
in order to facilitate the dialogue between non-governmental sector and decision
makers;
e. Directly involve the volunteering sector in the development of relevant public policies in
the areas in which voluntary activities are conducted;
f. Develop an infrastructure for volunteering to strengthen technical, operational and

financial capacities of resource organisations;
g. Support the technical assistance programmes carried out by resource organisations for
other youth-led and youth-serving non-governmental organisations;
h. Facilitate the mobility of volunteers at European and international levels;
i. Create a legal framework for the remuneration of trainers, facilitators, youth workers
and other stakeholders working as resource persons for youth;
37
j. Promote the work of non-governmental organisations in schools and high schools.
V. Improve the system of volunteer work certification and public recognition
Lines of action
a. Develop and implement a system for recognising the skills acquired through
volunteering based on the National Qualifications Framework and the European
Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning;
b. Adopt and implement the Manual on the Measurement of Volunteer Work developed by
the International Labour Organisation with a view to collecting valid and measurable
statistical data on the scale and dynamics of volunteering in Romania;
c. Encourage informal groups to act as promoters of volunteer work.
VI. Raise public awareness of the importance of volunteer engagement
Lines of action
a. Promote volunteering as a core societal value and an added value for the individual and
society;
b. Create mechanisms to promote the activities and projects conducted by youth-led and
youth-serving non-governmental organisations at community level;
c. Identify tools for involving the media in the promotion of volunteering and civic
engagement;
d. Conduct studies and research in the areas of volunteer engagement and on the state of
volunteering in Romania.
Indicators for tracking participation and volunteering policy impact on youth situation
Youth participation
a) Youth participation in political organisations or community/environmentally-oriented
non-governmental organisations – self-reported participation, in the past 12 months, of
youth aged 15-30 in the activities of a political organisation or political party, or a local
organisation aimed at improving the local community or environment (source: DG EAC
Flash Eurobarometer on Youth);
b) Youth participation in elections at the local, regional, national or EU level – the

percentage of young people aged 18-30 who declare having participated in elections at the
local, regional, national or EU level in the past three years (source: DG EAC Flash
Eurobarometer on Youth);
38
c) Young people aged 18-30 who got elected in the European Parliament – the number of
young MEPs elected into the European Parliament in the last elections (2009) (source:
The European Parliament);
d) Young people who use the Internet to interact with public authorities – the percentage of
young people aged 16-24 who have used the Internet in the past 12 months for interaction
with public authorities (i.e. having used the Internet for one or more of the following
activities: retrieving information from the websites of public authorities, downloading
official forms, sending filled-in forms) (source: Eurostat – survey on ICT usage in
households and by individuals);
e) Young people using the Internet for accessing or posting opinions on websites (e.g. blogs,
social networks, etc.), for discussing civic and political issues (in the past three months) –
the percentage of young people aged 16-24 declaring they have used the Internet for
accessing or posting opinions on websites (e.g. blogs, social networks, etc.), for discussing
civic and political issues (in the past three months) (source: Eurostat – survey on ICT
usage in households and by individuals).
Voluntary activities
a) Young people’s participation in voluntary activities – self-reported involvement in
organised voluntary activities in the past 12 months (age 15-30) (source: DG EAC Flash
Eurobarometer on Youth);
b) Share of young people who have volunteered in their community – the share of young
people aged 15-30 declaring that they have taken part in any voluntary activity aimed at
changing something in their own community during the past 12 months (source: DG EAC
Flash Eurobarometer on Youth);
c) Share of young people who have been abroad for the purpose of volunteering – the share
of young people aged 15-30 declaring they have been abroad for the purpose of
volunteering (source: DG EAC Flash Eurobarometer on Youth);
d) Formal recognition of participation in voluntary activities – the share of young people

aged 15-30 who declare having taken part in voluntary activities and having received a
certificate, a diploma or other formal recognition for their participation (source: DG EAC
Flash Eurobarometer on Youth).
Youth and the world

a) Young people’s participation in non-governmental organisations active in areas such as
global climate change/global warming, development aid or human rights – self-reported
participation of young people aged 15-30 in the activities of a non-governmental
organisation active in the field of global climate change/global warming, development aid
or human rights, in the past 12 months (source: DG EAC Flash Eurobarometer on Youth);
39
b) Participation of young people in activities or projects involving youth from other
continents during the past year – self-reported participation of young people aged 15-30 in
the activities or projects involving youth from other continents during the past year
(source: DG EAC Flash Eurobarometer on Youth).
3.3.4 Employment and entrepreneurship
Employment
Specific objectives
I. Increase youth employment, with a focus on the 15-24 and 25-29 age groups
Lines of action
a. Set up and implement a scheme of financial employment incentives for companies that
hire young graduates;
b. Put the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan into practice;
c. Pay special attention, when delivering active labour market measures, to the
regions/areas confronted with high job exclusion among youngsters;
d. Adjust education and vocational training to the changing labour market needs,
especially as regards the skills required by the growing sectors;
e. Stimulate and facilitate employer involvement in human capital development through

lifelong learning;
f. Pay special attention to the quality and added value of training scholarships offered to
youth, including by way of participating in the European Initiative on a European
Quality Framework for Training Scholarships;
g. Encourage economic agents to hold traineeships and internships for the future
employment of young practitioners;
h. Make school and the VET system more attractive and help students in compulsory
education become familiar with future jobs, with a focus on rural areas and the Roma,
and ensure a better short-term adjustment and long-term anticipation of the skills
demanded on the labour market;
i. Improve the quality and relevance of (initial and continuing) VET and tertiary education
relative to labour market needs;
j. Consider the situation of youth when designing flexicurity strategies.
40
II. Promote existing legal measures71 in favour of youth to ensure a smooth transition
from education to the labour market.
Lines of action
a. Youth work and non-formal learning will be recognised and further supported as
significant sources of support in providing young people with the skills and
competences that can ease their access to the labour market, thus contributing to the
achievement of the Europe 2020 objectives;
b. Promote easy access to friendly and quality information about the labour market,
employee and employer rights and obligations, for all youth, in particular for those with
fewer opportunities;
c. Include career information and guidance at all levels of formal and non-formal
education to make young people aware of labour market demands, to create better job
opportunities and to prepare them for working life;
d. Support enhanced accessibility, efficiency and quality of public employment services,

including their delivery by private providers;
e. Allow the private sector to provide some of the public employment services, in line with
applicable laws;
f. Important stakeholders like youth workers, career counsellors and trained trainers will
be recognised and supported as significant sources of relevant support;
g. Lend support, including financial aid, to youth-led and youth-serving non-governmental

organisations as major providers of non-formal education and informal learning as well
as of great mobility opportunities outside formal educational settings;
h. Ensure individualised training to youth workers, teachers and career counsellors for
providing labour market information and career counselling;
i. Plan seminars on career development support by strengthening cooperation between

youth-led and youth-serving non-governmental organisations and national employment
services;
j. Harmonise employment laws with the National Education Law and the Youth Law to
ensure a smooth transition from education to the labour market.

71
Law No 335/2013 on the internship to be conducted by higher education graduates and Law 279/2005
concerning on-the-job apprenticeship, updated.
41
III. Promote and support work-life balance for youth
Lines of action
a. Promote and support programmes and measures that ensure work-life balance for youth,
thus allowing them full use of their potential both on the labour market and in their
private life;
b. Stimulate youth participation in activities that provide work experience;
c. Encourage employers and employees to use various forms of work, especially telework,
part-time work, workplace division, and home-based work;
d. Provide more flexible and accessible types of child care facilities at work, at home and
at school, staffed with qualified workers;
e. Launch information campaigns to encourage young families to equally share tasks in

their private and professional lives, using flexible work arrangements.
IV. Stimulate youth mobility on the domestic labour market
Lines of action
a. Subsidise rents for young people who have to move to another county for their first job;
b. Grant tax relief to employers as a means to encourage them to lease and include
company-provided accommodation in the salary package of young employees.
Complementarily, such accommodation will be leased/built by the state and made
available to employers on special terms;
c. Facilitate access to and mobility on the domestic labour market both for young
Romanians who have studied abroad and young foreigners who have studied in
Romania or other EU Member States.
V. Foster Romanian young people’s mobility on the European labour market, including
through programmes that combine work and training and through integration
programmes, in the post-pilot phase of the ‘Your first EURES job’ Programme
Lines of action
a. Build the capacity of public employment services and other organisations active on the
labour market to work as employment services under this programme and team up with
other European networks to facilitate labour market integration at European level;
b. Encourage and support cross-border partnerships between employers and professional

training providers with a view to enhancing opportunities for Romanian youth to access
education and professional training in the ‘Erasmus +’ programme developed by the
European Commission;
42
c. Promote cross-border professional and vocational opportunities for youth.
VI. Ensure better opportunities for youth access to and retention on the labour market
through acquisition and development of skills and competences
Lines of action
a. Support education and professional training providers to better match the skills and
competences acquired by trainees/graduates to the demands of sectors that have a great
job creation potential such as ICT, health care and green economy, including their
participation in relevant coalitions and action plans developed by the European
Commission;
b. Ensure the right to equal and fair treatment for young employees, especially in terms of
decent work and wages, non-precarious jobs, training and promotion opportunities, and
non-discrimination on the basis of age;
c. Support actions aimed at improving young people’s job opportunities, such as individual
counselling, on-the-job training, intermediate labour markets, and foster entrepreneurial
spirit, giving due consideration to Romania’s specific employment structure;
d. Support youth retention on the labour market through quality career counselling and
guidance, on-the-job training, quality and paid internship and apprenticeship, in
accordance with the skills and interests of young people;
e. Develop a multi-dimensional approach to support the reintegration of NEET youth (not

in employment, education or training) via educational, training or job opportunities.
VII. Develop social economy and increase youth participation in this area
Lines of action
a. Tap into the potential of social economy models to support the labour market integration
of vulnerable youth and develop local services where market models have failed so as to
trigger job creation and social inclusion;
b. Promote and support youth-led social enterprises;
c. Develop and deliver consulting services to improve the economic and environmental
performance of social economy.
43
Entrepreneurship
Specific objectives
I. Increase self-employment among young people
Lines of action
a. Apply legal measures and develop self-employment promotional programmes adapted
to young people’s needs;
b. Stimulate new businesses by promoting entrepreneurship in schools and universities;
c. Offer youth a wider range of career development services that can also support
economic development at national and European levels;
d. Facilitate and support youth talent and entrepreneurial skills development;
e. Stimulate and support start-ups by facilitating their access to funding;
f. Create business training programmes for the young unemployed, with clearly defined
stages – profiling, planning, start-up, strengthening and growth, each stage being
accompanied by a variety of services (counselling, training and qualification, access to
micro-credits) – in partnership with youth and other organisations, business advisers and
financial institutions;
g. Launch active labour market programmes which offer financial support to unemployed
youth for starting a business;
h. Connect public employment services with assistance services and micro-funders to help
unemployed youth develop an entrepreneurial career;
i. Introduce a key competence called ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ in the curriculum of primary,

lower secondary, vocational, higher and adult education;
j. Conduct actions that promote entrepreneurial programmes for youth, including by

developing web platforms.
II. Increase self-employment among young people in rural areas
Lines of action
a. Promote youth access to funds in the fields of agriculture, fishing, forestry, etc. enabling
them to set up rural businesses;
44
b. Set up operational groups of young people (farmers, researchers, consultants) to
participate in the European Innovation Partnership ‘Agricultural Productivity and
Sustainability’;
c. Promote new sources of income for rural youth within the sector (processing, marketing
activities) and outside of it (environmental, tourist, educational activities);
d. Support demonstration activities to enable the transfer of know-how on new practices in

the field; information, short-term exchanges and visits in the EU with a view to
promoting the exchange of good practices among rural youth;
e. Develop and deliver consulting services to improve economic and environmental

performance of rural youth business.
III. Promote entrepreneurship at all youth education and training levels
Lines of action
a. Ensure the acquisition of transversal competences such as digital skills, learning how to
learn, sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, knowledge and understanding of cultural
aspects, through dedicated programmes, business management notions;
b. Ensure a functional education-research-innovation triangle by supporting national and

international partnerships between the business environment and different education,
training and research sectors and levels so as to match school-trained competences and
skills to the labour market needs, but also to increase focus on innovation and
entrepreneurship in all forms of learning;
c. Offer young people the chance to have at least one practical entrepreneurial experience
before the age of 26 or even before leaving compulsory schooling, like running a small
business or being responsible for a company’s entrepreneurial project or for a social
project;
d. Provide youth with entrepreneurial training using structural funds (the European Social
Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development);
e. Promote entrepreneurial learning modules for young people who participate in youth
guarantee schemes.
IV. Help young entrepreneurs adjust to European integration and globalisation processes
Lines of action
a. Develop entrepreneurial skills based on knowledge and optimal resource management
for a rapid adjustment to the demands driven by market globalisation;
45
b. Promote the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Programme72, a cross-border exchange
programme offering new or aspiring entrepreneurs the chance to learn from experienced
small businessmen/entrepreneurs from other EU countries;
c. Facilitate youth access to funding for development, through counselling and consulting
services and programmes;
d. Develop a platform for analysis and creation of a common methodology and mentoring
programme for entrepreneurs at the European level.
Indicators for tracking employment and entrepreneurship policy impact on youth situation
Youth unemployment
a) Youth unemployment rate – the share of the unemployed aged 15-24 in the active
population (employed and unemployed) (source: Eurostat, EU LFS);
b) Share of the unemployed aged 15-24 in the total unemployed population of the same age
group (source: Eurostat, EU LFS);
c) Self-employed youth – the self-employed as a percentage of the employed population

aged 20-24 and 25-29 (source: Eurostat, EU LFS);
d) Young people who would like to set up their own business – the share of young people
aged 15-30 answering YES to the question ‘Would you like to set up your own business in
the future?’ (source: Flash Eurobarometer);
e) Young employees with a temporary labour contract – the share of young employees (20-
29 years of age) who are on a fixed labour contract (source: Eurostat, EU LFS).

72
Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Programme, http://www.erasmus-entrepreneurs.eu/index.php
46
CHAPTER 4: STRATEGY CONTRIBUTION TO THE SOCIAL
INCLUSION OF YOUNG PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO
ARE VULNERABLE AND/OR WHO, FOR VARIOUS REASONS,
MAY HAVE FEWER OPPORTUNITIES

4.1 Occupational exclusion
Specific objective
I. Promote inclusive measures for youth with the aim of facilitating access to the formal
labour market
Lines of action
a. Focus active labour market measures on closing residential, regional and territorial gaps;
b. Provide social support to young people at risk of social marginalisation in order to avoid
the ‘revolving door’ effect whereby people are trapped between unemployment and
precarious and poor quality jobs;
c. Encourage young people from vulnerable groups to join the formal labour market by
facilitating access to ‘Second Chance’ programmes, non-formal education programmes,
training courses, and job counselling;
d. Stimulate and extend youth employment measures on the labour market, particularly for
young people from the child care system, youth who served a custodial sentence and
young persons with disabilities, by developing social enterprises;
e. Carry out targeted integration actions to improve labour market access of young people
from socially vulnerable groups: women, the Roma, young people with special needs, and
undereducated, under-skilled persons.
4.2 Exclusion from formal and non-formal education and culture
Specific objective
I. Direct non-formal education at the social reintegration of socially excluded youth,
maintain or restore access to formal education while effectively promoting non-formal
and informal learning and the recognition of acquired competences
Lines of action
a. Improve education outcomes by tackling each stage (preschool, primary, secondary,
vocational and tertiary levels) under an integrated approach that includes key competences
and is aimed at reducing early school leaving;
47
b. Develop learning platforms through partnerships between schools, universities, youth-led
and youth-serving non-governmental organisations and non-formal education providers,
involving members (parents, young people) of the communities in which the learning
platform beneficiaries live;
c. Implement measures that support students from disadvantaged backgrounds with good
and very good academic achievement;
d. Ensure access to school for youth, especially young girls, from communities with
traditional values;
e. Promote participation in decision-making processes, ensure diversity and inclusion, and

reduce the exclusive focus on exams and certificates in order to foster a culture of
understanding, acceptance and respect;
f. Facilitate, with the help of county councils and mayoralties, conventions between schools
from remote areas, without nearby employers, and agents from other economic areas, with
the aim of delivering vocational education in these areas and preventing youth exclusion
from education;
g. Implement measures to promote the e-inclusion of youth, directed in particular at poorer

and more remote rural areas and at youth groups with a lower standard of living;
h. Provide artistic and cultural opportunities to young people who are economically
challenged and socially excluded, as well as to those with disabilities;
i. Reduce dropout by ensuring support services for people with disabilities (curriculum
adaptation, provision of itinerant teachers, provision of textbooks in accessible formats).
4.3 Exclusion from health care
Specific objective
I. Promote equal access to health for young people, maintain free access to the basic
health care package, and improve the quality of medical procedures benefiting
children and youth in difficulty
Lines of action
a. Effectively provide free and equal access to mental and physical health services;
b. Improve the quality of health care provided to the general population, in particular to
vulnerable groups, including through investments in health care infrastructure;
c. Increase the monitoring of young people from socially vulnerable groups and foster
regular access to medical check-ups for disease prevention;
d. Promote an integrated package of health and sex education for youth;
48
e. Develop a set of awareness-raising and family planning measures for young women from
socially vulnerable groups;
f. Prevent HIV/AIDS transmission among young people by developing programmes that

meet the specific needs of vulnerable groups, in accordance with the National HIV/AIDS
Strategy/National Health Strategy 2014-2020 (available in their draft versions at the time
of the present Youth Strategy development).
4.4 Exclusion from participation
Specific objective
I. Promote the ‘voice’ of and empower the poor communities with high shares of
children and young people, as well as the socially excluded youth
Lines of action
a. Ensure youth participation in all public policy implementation stages: cooperation of
youth services, social services and formal educational establishments with young people
and their families in preventing the social exclusion of youth;
b. Encourage young beneficiaries from the communities targeted by development projects to

participate in all project development and implementation stages and involve youth in
community regeneration;
c. Launch calls for proposals directed at youth-led and youth-serving organisations to foster
their work with disadvantaged youth;
d. Encourage extremely poor, socially deprived young people, with no work experience, to
participate in types of volunteering activities that offer them non-financial benefits, allow
them to gain professional experience and enable their social reintegration.
4.5 Poverty, social exclusion and vulnerable groups
Specific objectives
I. Re-launch policies that combat poverty and promote social inclusion in Romania, with
a focus on youth and children, to reduce any gaps accumulated in the early life stages
which can adversely affect an individual’s entire future course and be difficult to
offset later on
Lines of action
a. Combat youth poverty and social exclusion and their intergenerational transmission, and
strengthen societal cohesion and solidarity with youth;
49
b. Enhance focus on prevention – the most effective and viable means to combat poverty and
social exclusion – and on early intervention so that people who end up in poverty are not
trapped in ever more challenging socio-economic situations;
c. Adopt a cross-sectoral approach in the actions taken to improve community cohesion and
solidarity and to reduce the social exclusion of young people, addressing their problems in
an integrated manner through actions aimed to enhance school participation, labour
market integration, access to housing, social and health care services, as well as the fight
against discrimination;
d. Carry out actions to combat poverty and exclusion across the whole policy spectrum; in
order to respond to the needs of young people and to ensure consistent welfare policies
and access to assistance and protection systems, cross-sector cooperation must be
strengthened, as well as cooperation at local, regional, national and European levels;
e. Identify mechanisms for using some of the European and national budget resources to
rehabilitate the social service infrastructure;
f. Create the mechanism required to turn local public government authorities into key
stakeholders acting to eradicate poverty and its consequences at local level;
g. Promote transition from institutional care to community-based services, including through

infrastructural support for integrated community care centres;
h. Improve the quality of life in rural communities and make them more appealing to youth;
i. Make parents more responsible, strengthen collaboration with social assistance services
and extend the social role of local public government authorities;
j. Ensure that competent authorities (Government, Ministry of Labour, Family, Social

Protection and the Elderly) initiate a priority programme as part of the anti-poverty and
social inclusion strategy currently under development: Foster the social inclusion of
children and young people living in extreme poverty and at high risk of
marginalisation/social exclusion; develop a comprehensive and integrated package of
social services for the children and young people living in the pockets of extreme poverty,
with the aim of facilitating access to education, ensuring a healthy diet and building
personal development capacities;
k. Improve access to social assistance for young people in need so that they can exercise
their rights; support youth information and education activities with respect to their rights;
l. Fully capitalise on youth work, youth centres and student cultural centres as a means for
inclusion;
m. Support intercultural knowledge and skills development for all youth and combat
prejudice;
50
n. Develop a proactive, participatory and volunteering-oriented culture among the general
public and socially assisted people, and encourage partnership-based approaches to
poverty.
II. Develop new programmes aimed at building or retrofitting social housing so as to

enable the implementation of the legal provisions that entitle disadvantaged young
people to a dwelling
Lines of action
a. Write a strategy/concept paper on social housing programmes based on a social housing
needs assessment conducted in Romania;
b. Continue to grant home-buying incentives to youth and start new housing programmes for
young people once the economy recovers;
c. Build a social housing stock covering 20% of the needs by 2020.
III. Create and implement special support measures for socially vulnerable youth groups,
in partnership with all the competent institutions from all sectors
Lines of action
a. Broaden the responsibilities of youth centres and student cultural centres so that they can
act as local resource centres for socially excluded and marginalised youth, while
integrating the interventions of local public government authorities that hold sectoral
responsibilities in the area of youth policy implementation;
b. Ensure the active involvement of youth-led and youth-serving non-governmental

organisations and the constant upgrading of support structures, working methods and
communication channels at local, regional and national levels, with the aim of developing,
creating, adopting, implementing and monitoring policies that affect young people;
c. Ensure a better use of youth workers’ potential, including through legal provisions
regarding their employment in public youth protection and inclusion services;
d. Finish updating the Roma strategy, include Roma concerns among the general population
social and economic issues and develop complementary programmes for the Roma to
address their problems in all communities;
e. Create measures to reduce major risks for the children and young people left behind by
migrant parents and lacking support from social care services;
f. Improve policy efficiency in fighting youth discrimination as, for many groups and
people, poverty and precariousness are very often a result of restricted opportunities and
rights to which the other groups have full access;
51
g. Integrate actions meant to combat child and youth homelessness into the overall set of
action strategies and social policies developed by the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social
Protection and the Elderly; prepare an integrated institutional framework for intervention;
h. Correlate and simplify services addressed to homeless children and youth and offer them
as an integrated package – institutional cooperation is needed to provide integrated
support: identification documents, health care, social care (benefits), access to pensions,
access to shelter and social housing, access to education, access to job opportunities;
i. Increase youth access to legal rights as granted under the guaranteed minimum income
provision, the law on social marginalisation, the social economy law and other laws
whose eligible beneficiaries include this social group;
j. Prevent HIV/AIDS transmission among youth, in particular sexual transmission, and

reduce HIV incidence among young people aged 15-29 by at least 20% by 2015,
compared to 2010, in accordance with the HIV/AIDS Strategy 2009-2014 (draft);
k. Combat the specific forms of discrimination and exclusion faced by young people with
special needs and ensure specialised assistance for the professional and social
reintegration of these young people;
l. Increase resources, especially services, for persons with mental health problems;
m. Provide housing assistance, access to education and health care to young people leaving
placement centres.
Indicators for tracking social inclusion policy impact on youth situation
The at-risk-of poverty or exclusion (AROPE) rate

a) For children – the share of children (under 18) who are at risk of poverty and/or severely
materially deprived and/or living in a household with very low work intensity (source:
Eurostat, SILC);
b) For young people – the share of young people (18-24 years) who are at risk of poverty
and/or severely materially deprived and/or living in a household with very low work
intensity (source: Eurostat, SILC);
c) The gap between (the AROPE rates of) children (under 18) and the total population – the
gap (in percentage points) between the share of children and the total population in terms
of being at risk of poverty and/or severe material deprivation and/or living in a household
with very low work intensity (source: Eurostat, SILC);
d) The gap between (the AROPE rates of) young people (18-24 years) and the total
population – the gap (in percentage points) between the share of young people and the
total population in terms of being at risk of poverty and/or severe material deprivation
and/or living in a household with very low work intensity (source: Eurostat, SILC).
52
At-risk-of poverty rate
a) For children (under 18) – the share of children (under 18) living in households with an
equivalised disposable income below 60% of the national median equivalised disposable
income (after social transfers) (source: Eurostat, SILC);
b) The gap between (the at-risk-of-poverty rates for) children (under 18) and the total
population – the gap (in percentage points) between the share of children living in
households with an equivalised disposable income below 60% of the national median
equivalised disposable income (after social transfers) and the total population (source:
Eurostat, SILC).
Severe material deprivation rate

a) For children (under 18) – the share of children who cannot afford at least four of the
following nine items: 1) to pay their rent, mortgage or utility bills; 2) to keep their home
adequately warm; 3) to face unexpected expenses; 4) to eat meat or proteins regularly; 5)
to go on holiday; or to buy 6) a TV; 7) a refrigerator; 8) a car; 9) a telephone (source:
Eurostat, SILC);
b) For young people (18-24 years) – the share of young people who cannot afford at least
four of the following nine items: 1) to pay their rent, mortgage or utility bills; 2) to keep
their home adequately warm; 3) to face unexpected expenses; 4) to eat meat or proteins
regularly; 5) to go on holiday; or to buy 6) a TV; 7) a refrigerator; 8) a car; 9) a telephone
(source: Eurostat, SILC);
c) The gap between the SMD rates for children (under 18) and the total population (source:
Eurostat, SILC);
d) The gap between the SMD rates for young people (18-24 years) and the total population
(source: Eurostat, SILC).
Living in households with very low work intensity

a) For children (under 18) – the share of children living in households where the adults
worked less than 20% of their total work potential during the past year (source: Eurostat,
SILC);
b) For young people (18-24 years) – the share of young people living in households where
the adults worked less than 20% of their total work potential during the past year (source:
Eurostat, SILC);
c) The gap between children (under 18) and the total population (0-59 years) in terms of
living in households where, in the past year, the adults worked less than 20% of their total
work potential (source: Eurostat, SILC);
53
d) The gap between young people (18-24 years) and the total population (0-59 years) in
terms of living in households where, in the past year, the adults worked less than 20% of
their total work potential (source: Eurostat, SILC).
Self-reported unmet need for health care

a) For young people (18-24 years) – the self-reported unmet need for health care due to the
following three reasons: financial barriers, great distance, waiting times;
b) The gap between young people (18-24 years) and the total population in terms of self-
reported unmet need for health care (source: Eurostat, SILC).
54
CHAPTER V: IMPLEMENTING MECHANISMS AND SUPPORT
PROGRAMMES
5.1 Implementing mechanisms

The Strategy is to be implemented at national, regional, county and local levels, with the
involvement of government agencies and public government authorities at those levels, as
well as of civil society organisations and young people themselves. For this purpose, vertical
and horizontal coordination mechanisms are needed, with clearly defined roles and
responsibilities in accordance with the underlying principles of this Strategy.
To ensure vertical coordination and communication, a coordinating advisory committee will

be set up, chaired by the Ministry of Youth and Sports and comprising representatives of most
relevant institutions and organisations.
The secretariat of the committee will be provided by the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The
committee will be established and granted responsibilities and powers under Government
Decision. The committee is a body without legal personality, comprised of ministry
representatives at Secretary of State level and top-level representatives of other specialised
central public government bodies, associations of local public government authorities and
civil society associations:
a. Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Protection and the Elderly
b. Ministry of National Education
c. Ministry of Health
d. Ministry of Internal Affairs
e. Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration
f. Ministry of Justice
g. The Ombudsman
h. National Union of County Councils
i. Romanian Youth Council
The committee may also include other youth-led and youth-serving non-governmental
organisations set up at those levels and representatives of other relevant non-governmental
organisations active in the Strategy key intervention areas and targeting youth and
adolescents.
Cross-sectoral activities carried out in order to achieve the outlined objectives will be
coordinated by the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS), based on a Strategy
implementation plan which will include programmes and interventions to be delivered by
both the MoYS and the other relevant actors in the field of youth.
55
Representatives of international organisations and donors supporting the implementation of
the Strategy will also be invited to join the inter-ministerial coordinating committee for
Strategy implementation.
For the purpose of vertical coordination, the entities in charge of Strategy implementation will
issue internal decisions to appoint the staff responsible for the implementation, monitoring
and reporting of intervention programmes and measures assigned to each entity, according to
their own territorial structure. Vertical coordination with local public government authorities
will be ensured by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, as the main central authority responsible
for youth policy, via an internal agency set up to this end. The agency will also keep track of
the persons in charge at central, regional, county and local levels as appointed by the other
Strategy implementing entities and will facilitate their communication under both vertical and
horizontal coordination.
5.2 Support programmes
5.2.1 Strategy implementation monitoring and evaluation

Monitoring will ensure the continuous observation, registration and analysis of data related to
Strategy implementation, thus allowing for timely corrections of potential deviations from the
implementation plan and/or adjustment of the plan to fluctuating resources or implementing
environment. This concerns inputs (material and human resources), the implementation
process, implementation outputs and implementing environment (internal and external). For
effective monitoring, an information management system is required, preferably an electronic
one, including a high-performance medium for data transmission, storage and processing.
For the Strategy as a whole and for action plans and related programmes/measures,
monitoring indicators will be defined and monitoring plans will be developed, specifying the
baseline value, the value achieved and the target value for each indicator, as well as the
collection and reporting responsibilities.
Given Romania’s obligation to contribute to the reports of the European Commission on the
situation of young people in the EU – drafted every three years, the overall Strategy
implementation will be monitored based on the set of indicators developed in 2011 by the
expert group set up by the European Commission for this purpose73.
To monitor the implementation of action plans and related programmes/measures, specific

indicators will be defined.
Policies, programmes and measures will be evaluated at the beginning, midway through and
at the end of the implementation period or even at the end of specific stages/phases, in order
to highlight the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact of the measures
proposed and implemented. Especially in the case of complex policies and programmes,
evaluations will also look at those significant and sustainable changes in the areas targeted by

73
According to the European Commission Staff Working Document on EU indicators in the field of youth,
available at http://ec.europa.eu/youth/library/publications/indicator-dashboard_en.pdf
56
the intervention and in the wider social context which can be attributed to the respective
policies or programmes and which could not have occurred in their absence (impact
evaluation).
While simple/regular evaluation can accurately inform us about the effectiveness of a

programme, project or intervention measure and about immediate and easily perceivable
results, impact evaluation can provide us with a complex picture of long-term changes which
are normally pursued by public policies.
Just like for monitoring, evaluation plans will be developed for the Strategy, action plans and
related programmes, with a clear definition of general and specific questions to which the
evaluation has to answer, the proposed approach (experimental, non-experimental or quasi-
experimental), key indicators, data sources and data collection methods, the type of samples
used (where applicable), and data collection and analysis responsibilities.
As this is a complex activity requiring specialised training and in order to ensure neutrality
and objectivity, the evaluation will be conducted by specialised independent
companies/groups. This does not rule out implementing entities; on the contrary, by working
together with the evaluating company/group, their staff may benefit from additional specific
training.
5.2.2 Building management and implementation capacity of Strategy implementing entities

Since Romania has never had a strategy in the field of youth policy or in other of its key areas
of intervention, the employees of MoYS and other entities in charge of Strategy
implementation are expected to need additional specific training. Therefore, as Strategy
implementation action plans are developed and responsible staff is appointed at the level of
entities involved, the MoYS will assess the needs for additional staff training and will develop
a multi-module training programme tailored to the specifics and level of intervention of the
entities involved.
5.2.3 Public information and social dialogue

The success of a strategy and related policies and programmes strongly depends on target
group participation in their implementation. Therefore, large-scale and accessible information
via adequate communication channels is central to Strategy success.
Social dialogue, including the structured dialogue with young people and their organisations,
researchers in the field of youth and policy makers, as called for by the Council of the
European Union under Resolution of 24 November 2005 (OJ C 292/24.11.2005), is also
essential for involving all stakeholders in Strategy implementation.
As soon as the Strategy is endorsed, the MoYS, in partnership with central and local public
government authorities, will develop and implement a public information and social dialogue
programme ensuring that the youth, public authorities and civil society organisations, whose
involvement is needed for Strategy implementation, know and understand its specific
57
objectives and lines of action, the roles of the entities involved and the allocated resources, as
well as the outcomes derived in the process. A constant dialogue with the young people and
entities involved could develop and maintain a sense of ownership, with positive effects
regarding their mobilisation for Strategy implementation.
58

Strategia PT Tineret en

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Strategia PT Tineret en

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

National Youth Policy Strategy

Coordinator – UNICEF Romania:

Alpha MDN Publishing House

CHAPTER 1: YOUTH STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT BACKGROUND (PREVIOUS

CHAPTER 2: YOUTH SITUATION IN ROMANIA..................................................................... 10

CHAPTER 3: STRATEGY DESIGN............................................................................................... 26

CHAPTER 4: STRATEGY CONTRIBUTION TO THE SOCIAL INCLUSION OF YOUNG

CHAPTER 5: IMPLEMENTING MECHANISMS AND SUPPORT PROGRAMMES............ 54

1.1 The first youth ‘strategy’ - NYAP-R

1.2 European strategies

1.3 Analysis of policy, social, educational, economic and technological contexts

1.3.1 Policy dimension

Government Programme 2013-2016

o In agriculture, new measures to support young farmers have been considered.

o In terms of employment, the following measures are envisaged:

h) Develop tertiary education programmes tailored to labour market needs so as to

b) Involve Romania in the organisation of national and international sporting

c) Organise school and university championships for at least 10 sports;

d) Support the development of specific infrastructure allowing higher educational

e) Increase universiade participation.

1.3.2 Social dimension

1.3.3 Educational dimension

Centres for entrepreneurship should be established in universities, enabling youth to develop

1.3.4 Economic dimension

1.3.5 Technological dimension

2.1 Youth status and Strategy target groups

2.2 Challenges and expected results

2.2.1 Dynamics of youth population

2.4 Employment and entrepreneurship

2.4.3 Expected results

2.5 Formal and non-formal education and culture

2.5.1 The transition from education to employment and system correlation

2.5.3 Youth and ICT usage

The improvement of youth participation in non-formal education – underdeveloped in

2.6 Health, sports and leisure

2.6.2 Sports and leisure

2.6.3 Expected results

2.7 Participation and volunteering

2.7.1 Expected results

2.8 Youth groups affected by social exclusion58

2.8.1 Expected results

3.2 Strategy principles

b) The principle of knowledge-based policies – make well-informed and scientifically

c) The principle of recognising youth as a resource for sustainable development –

e) The principle of non-discrimination – ensure non-discrimination and equal access to youth

g) The principle of solidarity – consider the existence of potential differences in young

l) The principle of transparency – ensure transparency of and access to adequate information

3.3 Key areas of intervention, specific objectives and lines of action

3.3.1 Non-formal education and culture

c. Implement prevention, intervention and compensation measures to reduce early school

II. Improve the non-formal education offer

c. Increase the attractiveness of the non-formal education supply promoted by educational

f. Involve student union confederations and ALUMNI organisations in youth programmes at

g. Extend and support e-learning opportunities, conferences and webinars on youth-

j. Mobilise and guide governmental and non-governmental organisations and local

k. Set up and implement an efficient system for cooperation between educational

III. Raise young people’s interest in participating in non-formal education activities

b. Stimulate youth interest in reading and literary creation;

g. Offer support to youth-oriented forms of cultural expression, reflecting young people’s

V. Improve funding of cultural activities

Indicators for tracking cultural policy impact on youth situation

c) Participation in sports clubs, leisure-time or youth clubs/associations or cultural

b. Promote road safety education and defensive driving among youngsters;