Transparency in the Area of Youth Policy (HR0016)

Improve the content of the website of the initiative Guarantee for Youth Implementation indicators: review of contracted projects and funds granted and spent for the implementation of initiatives conducted, Annual implementation report published, statistical overview of site hits, section containing information on the work and conclusions of the expert bodies responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Guarantee for Youth created and regularly updated (Intersectoral working group for monitoring the implementation of the Guarantee for Youth; Intersectoral supervisory board for monitoring the Guarantee for Youth), information on the scope, manner of work and division of authority between the abovestated two bodies, published to the set deadline, number of published conclusions/session meetings in relation to the number of sessions held. Improve the transparency of the work of the Council for Youth of the Government of the Republic of Croatia Implementation indicators: announcements and minutes from the sessions of the Youth Council of the Government of the Republic of Croatia regularly posted on the official website of the MSPY, number of published announcements and session minutes in relation to the number of held sessions of the Youth Council of the Government of the Republic of Croatia. Improve the transparency of the work of the Youth Council Implementation indicators: instructions drafted for local and regional self-government units to develop separate columns on their official websites that will contain all the relevant information in the work of the Youth Council, list of established Youth Councils published and regularly updated on the official MSPY website Lead institutions: Ministry of Labour and the Pension System; Ministry of Social Policy and Youth Supporting institutions: None specified Start date: Not specified, End date: 31 October 2014

7. Transparency in the Area of Youth Policy

Commitment Text:

7.1. Improve the content of the website of the initiative Guarantee for Youth

Implementation indicators:

• review of contracted projects and funds granted and spent for the implementation of initiatives conducted
• Annual implementation report published
• statistical overview of site hits
• section containing information on the work and conclusions of the expert bodies responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Guarantee for Youth created and regularly updated (Intersectoral working group for monitoring the implementation of the Guarantee for Youth; Intersectoral supervisory board for monitoring the Guarantee for Youth)
• information on the scope, manner of work and division of authority between the abovestated two bodies, published to the set deadline
• number of published conclusions/session meetings in relation to the number of sessions held

Lead institutions: Ministry of Labour and the Pension System

Supporting institutions: None specified

Start date: Not specified   End date: October 2014

7.2. Improve the transparency of the work of the Council for Youth of the Government of the Republic of Croatia

Implementation indicators:

• announcements and minutes from the sessions of the Youth Council of the Government of the Republic of Croatia regularly posted on the official website of the MSPY
• number of published announcements and session minutes in relation to the number of held sessions of the Youth Council of the Government of the Republic of Croatia

Lead institutions: Ministry of Social Policy and Youth

Supporting institutions: None specified

Start date: Not specified   End date: continuous

7.3. Improve the transparency of the work of the Youth Council

Implementation indicators:

• instructions drafted for local and regional self-government units to develop separate columns on their official websites that will contain all the relevant information in the work of the Youth Council
• list of established Youth Councils published and regularly updated on the official MSPY website

Lead institutions: Ministry of Social Policy and Youth

Supporting institutions: None specified

Start date: Not specified   End date: 2014 and continuous

Commitment Aim:

Croatia has a decade-and-a-half-long tradition of youth policy-related interventions. It is one of the first policy areas where access to information and civic participation were encouraged and fostered. The aim of the commitment was to increase transparency in youth policy, by providing information on the Youth Guarantee program (milestone 7.1) and by increasing the transparency of work of the Council for Youth (milestone 7.2) and youth councils at local and regional levels (milestone 7.3). 

Status

Midterm: Substantial

7.1. Improve the content of the website of the initiative Guarantee for Youth (limited)

The Youth Guarantee is a new approach to tackling youth unemployment that ensures that all young people under the age of 25—whether registered with employment services or not—get a good-quality, concrete job offer within four months of them leaving formal education or becoming unemployed.^{[Note 35: See more at http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1079.]} Since this is a new initiative with significant funding, especially in countries with high youth unemployment such as Croatia, the action plan envisaged activities aimed to ensure transparency of the initiative. In order to oversee the initiative, the government established an interdepartmental working group (IWG) in February 2014. The implementation of this milestone was limited and behind schedule in the midterm report because only two out of five envisaged results were met. In July 2014, the Council for the implementation of the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan was established; the Youth Guarantee initiative website^{[Note 36: Available at http://www.gzm.hr.]} was started in November 2014; and the Annual Implementation Plan Report for 2014 was adopted and published in July 2015.

7.2. Improve the transparency of the work of the Council for Youth of the Government of the Republic of Croatia (complete)

This milestone was completed by the midterm evaluation point.

7.3. Improve the transparency of the work of the Youth Council (substantial)

The Ministry of Social Policy and Youth contacted all counties on 27 October 2014, requesting aggregated data for each county (including information on local government units) on established youth councils. The collected data was published on the official website.^{[Note 37: Available at http://www.mspm.hr/djelokrug_aktivnosti/mladi/godisnji_izvjestaj_osnovanih_savjeta_mladih_pri_lokalnim_i_regionalnim_podrucnim_samoupravama.]} However, the published data tables turned out to be mostly empty, except for a few exceptions. The ministry subsequently started recollecting the data and planned to publish an annual report, and it also sent recommendations to cities, municipalities, and counties to create a separate section on their official website with relevant information concerning youth councils, in accordance with Article 23 of the Act on Youth Councils. There is, however, no information available on the number of local and regional self-government units (576 of them) that publish such information on their official websites.

End of term: Substantial

According to the draft self-assessment and research by the IRM researcher, milestone 7.1 remains limited in implementation. The Youth Guarantee website now contains information on contracted projects and funds,^{[Note 38: Available at http://www.gzm.hr/sto-je-garancija-za-mlade/kako-ce-se-financirati/.]} the implementation plan, and the annual report on the scope and methods of the council’s work.^{[Note 39: Available at http://www.gzm.hr/sto-je-garancija-za-mlade/ plan-implementation/.]} An email was set up for queries (gzm@mrms.hr), and a reported 46,021 people accessed the website, visiting 181,605 pages for an average of 2 minutes and 40 seconds, since the website was established in November 2014. However, there is still no information on the results of implemented activities, minutes from the IWG or council sessions, scope of other activities, or any news published since late 2015.

Milestone 7.3 is reported as complete in the self-assessment draft. According to sources from the Ministry of Social Policy and Youth, data on youth councils now available on the ministry’s website have been published in the form of a report in early July 2016^{[Note 40: Available at http://www.mspm.hr/istaknute-teme/mladi-1683/savjeti-mladih/izvjesca-o-savjetima-mladih/2240.]} and will be suplemented with a new annual report on the number of established (and active) youth councils in Croatia, for 2015, as well as a list of active county, city, and municipal youth councils in 2015. The documents have been prepared and contain information on youth councils in 149 local and regional units, including links to local and regional websites with information about their work. The ministry plans to continually collect and publish this information.

Did it open government?

Access to information: Marginal

Making information about the work of the Youth Council publicly accessible is a significant step forward since data on youth participation in decision-making processes was not readily available before. The same can be said of youth councils and advisory bodies that include youth representatives at the regional and local levels: Their activities are even less well known, and in some cases the youth councils themselves have difficulty understanding what they should do.

Youth issues in the form of youth policy were included in the OGP action plan for the first time. Out of the three milestones, one is related to a specific European Union-related policy (Youth Guarantee), and two are related to collecting and publishing information on youth councils at the national, regional, and local levels.

The impact of the implemented activities could have moderate effects in setting standards and making relevant information available to the public. However, the language of the commitment is very narrow in scope. The government committed to improving transparency on the Youth Guarantee Initiative website and transparency in the work of the Government Council and local and regional youth councils. However, transparency might be an important prerequisite for effective implementation of the programme, but as noted by GONG,^{[Note 41: The interview was conducted on 22 September 2015. For more information, see the IRM midterm report.]} the actual uptake is quite limited. Namely, all three milestones have a moderate potential impact. Milestone 7.1, which had limited completion, and milestones 7.2 and 7.3, which were fully completed, thus had a marginal influence regarding information disclosed to the public and improving the quality of that information.

Carried forward?

The next action has not been drafted or released by the government in accordance with the OGP schedule. The IRM researcher suggests that the Ministry of Labour and the Pension System pick up activities regarding the Youth Guarantee website and publish all relevant information on activities that took place since 2015, as well as the programme’s future plans.

In addition, the IRM researcher recommends the following activities, regarding milestones 7.2 and 7.3, be discussed for inclusion in the next action plan:

• Create an application to be used for collecting and publishing all the relevant data about local and regional councils (their statutes and rules of procedure, who their members are, their contact data, agendas for council meetings, minutes of meetings, activities, projects, events of youth councils, etc.), which local and regional bodies would update regularly; and
• Discuss the benefits of conducting a public campaign aimed at increasing youth’s interest and use of information on youth councils on every administrative level. This could be a good educational tool in order to increase youth civic participation.