Contact information

Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Latvia

Valnu street 2, Riga

LV-1050, Latvia

Phone: +371 67226209

Fax: +371 67223905

E-mail: pasts@izm.gov.lv

Working hours

08:30.-17:00.

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Youth

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OVERVIEW

According to the Youth Law young people in Latvia are persons from 13 to 25 years of age which constituted 17.16% of the total population in Latvia or 382 570 young people (Data by the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia) in 2011.

The youth policy is the purposeful set of activities in all the fields of state policy to promote the wholesome and versatile development of young people, their inclusion in the society and improvement of life quality. As a result of implementing the youth policy the persons involved (state and municipality institutions, youth organisations, etc.) promote the initiatives of young people, participation in the decision making processes and social life, support youth work and providing children easier transition to adult status envisaging corresponding activities for personal development of young people. The bases of the youth policy is youth work — planned practical set of activities developed for young people (events, projects, programmes) in order to improve the life quality of young people.

The implementation of youth policy is influenced by several aspects, because the life of young people is connected with the majority of fields of the state policy, therefore this is the inter-sectoral policy which has to implement particular tasks of youth policy; support youth initiatives, non-formal education, opportunities for useful free-time activities, access to information.

According to their functions, the municipalities carry out youth work taking into consideration the basic principles of youth policy and the state policy planning documents in the field of youth. Municipal youth affairs specialists work with youth and collaborate with persons involved in the implementation of youth policy, come up with suggestions for the development of youth policy, implement and coordinate informative and educational events, projects and programmes in the field of youth policy and other activities that promote the improvement of life quality of young people.

YOUTH IN FIGURES

Proportion of young people who assess their life quality as good	39.8%
The number of municipal youth affairs coordinators (youth affairs specialists) in 2010	49
The number of Youth Centres (youth initiative centres) in municipalities in 2010	79
Proportion of young people who consider that youth has huge possibility to influence the issues connected with youth problems in the country	43.9%
Proportion of young people who consider that they have huge or all possibilities to spend their free time as they wish	65.3%

DEVELOPMENT

The essential document that defines the youth policy in Latvia is the Youth Law which came into force from January 1, 2009. The aim of this Law is to improve the life quality of young people — persons between the ages of 13 and 25 inclusively - by promoting their initiatives, participation in decision-making and social life, as well as by supporting youth work. The Youth Policy State Programme for years 2009-2013 was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in August, 2009 and it was developed to implement the aims and objectives set in the Guidelines of Youth Policy for years 2009-2018. The activities included in the Programme envisage the promotion of youth involvement in the decision taking processes, to promote youth social economical development, competitiveness and inclusion in society as well as to improve international collaboration in the field of youth policy.

To facilitate long-term youth work at local governments and youth work in accordance with youth policies and based on best practice examples, local governments have developed local youth policy planning documents provided for by the amendments to the Youth Law from 2011. At the same time, in 2013, local governments will be invited to assess the local youth policy development stage using the methodology ‘Youth policy development Index’ developed by the Ministry of Education and Science.

In 2010 and 2011 the Ministry of Education and Science plans to organize similar activities as in 2009 — the annual monitoring about self-assessment of life quality of young people, the level of awareness among young people, as well as youth participation in different social activities, youth organisations and voluntary work in order to obtain data about the youth policy implementation results.

To ensure coordination of the youth policy, a Youth Advisory Council has been established, which aims to promote the development and implementation of a coherent youth policy, as well as promote the participation of youth in the decision-making process and public life. The Youth Advisory Council is comprised by delegated representatives of the state administration, local government and youth organisations, forming one half of the commission. At the same time, since 2011, the Ministry of Education and Science has been coordinating operations of the national work team for the implementation of the European Union’s structured dialogue.

To identify the situation of youth organisations in Latvia and facilitate funding to youth organisations within open project competitions, the Ministry of Education and Science has created a youth organisation registration system. The Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 188 of 15 March 2011 ‘Regulations on the information to be included in the youth organisations list and the procedure for registration of associations in the youth organisations list’ was developed and approved in accordance with the Youth Law. The list of youth organisations is maintained by the Ministry of Education and Science.

In early 2009, the occupational standard of a Youth Affairs Specialist was included in the Classification of Occupations. In 2012, work on the development of a Youth Worker occupational standard is carried out, defining the skills, basic functions and responsibilities of the youth work personnel of a lower level than a Youth Affairs Specialist.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

In Latvia the State Agency “Agency of International Programs for Youth” of the Ministry of Education and Science implements non-formal education programme “Youth in Action". In the framework of this programme the youth from age of 13 to 30 (and youth workers without any age restrictions) has the opportunity to gain knowledge, skills and experience by writing and implementing projects and raising funding from the programme “Youth in Action” assets.

In the framework of Swiss-Latvian Cooperation Programme it is planned to establish 10 multifunctional youth initiative centres, as well as to support the training, mobility and exchange of experience for youth and youth workers.