Analysis of the current state of youth work in the Republic of Croatia with recommendations and directions for its development

Taking into consideration the positive impact of youth work on combating youth unemployment and social exclusion, Ministry for Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy is implementing the project Support to Development and Expansion of Youth Work in Croatia (Podrška razvoju i širenju rada s mladima u Hrvatskoj), financed from the Operational Programme Efficient Human Resources 2014 – 2020 i.e. European Social Fund. The main aim of the project is standardization of youth work which is implemented outside the formal educational system and by the civil society organizations in Croatia. Also, it aims at raising awareness on its economic and social benefits. The project is based on three specific goals: research of current availability, development and nature of youth work, improving competences of youth workers, and raising awareness of experts, youth and public on the importance of this service.

MAP and IPSOS are engaged to design and implement the research with a final aim to analyse the current state and availability of youth work in Croatia. The research will map main youth work actors, analyse their capacities and quality of provided services. Besides improving the understanding of the current conditions of youth work in Croatia, research results are going to be the basis for further professionalization of this service as well as for development of youth worker occupational standard. Therefore, both partners are going to be included in the future work of the Ministry’s Working Group for the Analysis of the Possibility of Youth Work Professionalization (Radna skupina za analizu mogućnosti profesionalizacije rada s mladima), and they will publicly present research results and final recommendations.

The research will include triangulation of different qualitative and quantitative methods, consisting of:

·       document analysis for improving the understanding of youth work practices in Croatia and on an international level;

·       focus groups with experts in youth work for collecting additional relevant information for the surveys' design;

·       surveying a representative sample of youth on their experience with youth work services;

·       surveying a convenience sample of active organizations in area of youth work for collecting information on current youth work practices;

·       surveying a convenience sample of service users on their motivation and experience during youth work services;

·       individual and group interviews with active organizations in the areas of youth work to investigate the quality of existing youth work practices and possibility of its improvement;

·       focus groups with young service users on motivation and experience in participating in youth work services.