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Romania

Youth Participation (RO0051)

Overview

At-a-Glance

Action Plan: Romania Action Plan 2018-2020

Action Plan Cycle: 2018

Status: Active

Institutions

Lead Institution: Ministry of Youth and Sports (MTS), Directorate for Youth Projects and Policies

Support Institution(s): Non-governmental organizations of / for youth

Policy Areas

Capacity Building, E-Government, Marginalized Communities, Public Participation

IRM Review

IRM Report: Pending IRM Review

Starred: Pending IRM Review

Early Results: Pending IRM Review

Design i

Verifiable: Yes

Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information , Civic Participation , Technology

Potential Impact:

Implementation i

Completion: Pending IRM Review

Description

Improve consultation and public participation for youth
Lead implementing agency/actor Ministry of Youth and Sports (MTS), Directorate for Youth Projects and Policies Other actors involved State actors CSOs, private sector, multilaterals, working groups Non-governmental organizations of / for youth What is the public problem that the commitment will address? Insufficient development of active citizenship among young people: • low involvement of young people in the specific projects of the Ministry of Youth and Sport / DSTR / DSTMB; • low participation of young people in the decisionmaking process regarding issues that concern the youth. Commitment description What is the commitment? The commitment aims to undertake actions which lead to a collaborative relationship between authorities, youth and structures that work with young people, in order to generate dedicated action plans, with the help of dialogue mechanisms and tools, including ICT. The implemented actions and tools used will lead to the development of the social and civic competences of young people and to the increase of the decision makers' capacity, in order to contribute to building an open, diverse, intercultural and tolerant society. How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem? - Strengthen the structured dialogue for policy making in the youth field, taking into account the views of young people; - Establishing and functioning of at least 83 youth advisory councils at local level: 41 advisory councils for youth at the level of county councils, 41 advisory councils for youth at the level of the local councils and of the county seat municipalities, 1 advisory 13 council at the level of CGMB; - Selection of at least 300 projects for youth and students based on objective criteria and transparent methodologies; - Selection of at least 2000 participants, young people and students, on the basis of objective criteria and transparent methodologies, using ICT tools. Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? Making an open decision-making process in the field of youth policies at national level Milestone activity with a verifiable deliverable Responsible agency / partner Start Date: End Date: Conducting public consultations by the National Working Group on Structured Dialogue and the network of youth workers with competences in the structured dialogue process MTS December 2018 Elaboration of contest methodologies for youth projects of ONGT/ONGS MTS 2018 2020 Creating an online platform for selecting youth / student projects at the central level MTS 2019 2020 Establishing youth advisory councils at the level of county councils and town halls of county residences MTS 2018 2020 Funding by competition of at least 300 projects MTS 2018 2020 Additional information Budget required (lei): 6.500.000 lei Correlation with other government programs/strategies National Strategy in the Field of Youth Policy 2015 – 2020 The European Union Youth Strategy 2019 – 2027

IRM Midterm Status Summary

4. Improve consultation and public participation for youth

Commitment Text: "The commitment aims to undertake actions which lead to a collaborative relationship between authorities, youth and structures that work with young people, in order to generate dedicated action plans, with the help of dialogue mechanisms and tools, including ICT. The implemented actions and tools used will lead to the development of the social and civic competences of young people and to the increase of the decision makers’ capacity, in order to contribute to building an open, diverse, intercultural and tolerant society."

Commitment Objective:

  • Strengthen the structured dialogue for policy making in the youth field, taking into account the views of young people;
  • Establishing and functioning of at least 83 youth advisory councils at local level: 41 advisory councils for youth at the level of county councils, 41 advisory councils for youth at the level of the local councils and of the county seat municipalities, 1 advisory council at the level of CGMB;
  • Selection of at least 300 projects for youth and students based on objective criteria and transparent methodologies;
  • Selection of at least 2000 participants, young people and students, on the basis of objective criteria and transparent methodologies, using ICT tools.

Milestones:

    • Conducting public consultations by the National Working Group on Structured Dialogue and the network of youth workers with competences in the structured dialogue process
    • Elaboration of contest methodologies for youth projects of ONGT/ONGS
    • Creating an online platform for selecting youth / student projects at the central level
    • Establishing youth advisory councils at the level of county councils and town halls of county residences
    • Funding by competition of at least 300 projects

Start Date: December 2018 ...............................................

End Date: 2020

Editorial Note: The commitment text is abridged. The full text can be found in the OGP 2018-2020 national action plan.

Context and Objectives

The commitment was continued from Romania’s third action plan (2016-2018). [38] Currently, youth in Romania is insufficiently involved in decision-making processes, in Ministry of Youth and Sports (MTS) projects, as well as in projects for youth at both county level and in Bucharest. [39] An interviewed civil society representative argued that under the EU Structured Dialogue, youth find it difficult to track which of their suggestions were implemented, while in the case of national consultations, the Inter-ministerial Council on Youth should consult the National Consultative Council more, especially on cross-sectorial policies. [40] Moreover, although law 350/2006 recommends that local public administrations create youth consultative councils, the recommendation has been weakly implemented because it was not compulsory and there were no secondary norms to make its implementation compulsory. [41] Only 15 local and regional consultative councils have been created. [42]

This commitment aims to strengthen the youth consultation process, ensure that the required youth advisory councils are set up, fund at least 300 projects for youth and students, and transparently select participants for youth and student competitions (e.g., the National Competition for Youth and the National Competition for Students). According to an MTS representative, the online platform the MTS will build (Milestone 4.3) will also offer youth information regarding workplaces, jobs, education, finances, competitions, as well as list the projects that MTS funded through its national and local competitions together with their achievements. The commitment therefore uses IT tools to promote civic participation and access to information, and its objectives and stated milestones make its implementation specific enough to be verifiable.

However, this commitment is likely to have a minor impact on youth engagement in decision making, and on the youth’s ability to access relevant information. The commitment’s objectives address the dysfunctions in the consultation process at the EU and at the local level, but do not explicitly address those at national level. According to an interviewed civil society representative, it is unclear what influence youth have through the Structured Dialogue consultations on national or European policymaking. [43] Furthermore, according to both the MTS and civil society representatives, the contest methodologies for youth projects are adjusted yearly to reflect feedback from NGOs who compete for the funding, as well as the priorities of the MTS. [44] Consequently, Milestone 2 reflects the functioning of MTS rather than an advancement of civic participation or access to information. According to the civil society representative, the digitalization of the application for funding would reduce the costs and bureaucracy associated with the current paper-based submissions. [45] Moreover, centralizing information on the platform on the winning projects and their achievements would help expose the work of the MTS and increase monitoring of the funding.

Nevertheless, MTS has not yet secured funding for the platform, [46] and while MTS is setting up a collaboration with a university to build the platform, it remains unclear which information from other ministries can and will be integrated into the MTS platform, as well as how the platform will be populated. MTS re-organized the National Consultative Council for youth in 2018 through government decision 141/2018. Nevertheless law 350/2006 law did not clearly stipulate that local administration and county councils must constitute a consultative council. [47] The Law of Youth [48] still being discussed in Parliament will enforce that requirement, [49] and once ratified, MTS will monitor its application. [50] But since the Law of Youth does not specify sanctions for not creating the local councils, an interviewed civil society representative pointed out that MTS will still have to lobby the local administration to apply the law, or will have to apply naming-and-shaming strategies to increase pressure on nonperformers with the support of the Government’s representative in the county (the institution of the Prefect). [51] Without a benchmark, it is difficult to assess the potential impact of having 3,000 funded projects with at least 2,000 beneficiaries on youth participation in the decision-making process. 

Next steps

Given the limited youth participation in decision making in Romania and the current absence of a National Youth Strategy, this commitment is important and should be continued in the next action plan. The following recommendations can help guide its implementation as well as its continuation in the next action plan:

  • MTS could clarify the role of the consultative councils (e.g., their mandate in relation to their constituting administration), their composition and operating procedures (e.g., frequency of meetings and topics covered), and expected output (e.g., an annual report and written recommendations).
  • According to a civil society representative, MTS could increase the transparency of its funded activities—e.g., by publishing summaries of the projects that were funded at national and local level on its website and by publishing aggregated statistics on the types of activities and projects that were funded. [52]
  • It should be clear before the start of a new round of Structured Dialogue how previous consultation recommendations are considered and where—e.g., in the European context, at the level of the national strategy for youth, or at the level of methodologies, procedures, etc. The Inter-ministerial Council for Youth could therefore discuss the suggestions that came up from the Structured Dialogue process and reveal how they will be used in designing and implementing the National Youth Strategy 2020-2025.
  • As the new Romanian National Youth Strategy will have to be compiled in 2020, the Inter-ministerial Council for Youth could start consulting the National Consultative Council and the national youth associations on the MTS policies as well as on the public policies relating to youth of the other ministries (Ministry of National Education, Ministry of Labour and Social Justice, Ministry of Health, etc), that will enforce the government’s policy on youth through the new National Strategy on Youth.

[38] Commitment 8 of Romania’s 3rd national action plan: see "IRM End-of-Term Report on Romania 2016-2018", OGP, available at http://www.opengovernmentpartnership.org.

[39] See problem description of the commitment, available at http://ogp.gov.ro/nou/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Romania-2018-2020_NAP_EN.pdf

[40] Interview with Mihai Dragos, Romanian Youth Council (CTR), 9 September 2019.

[41] "2016-2017 IRM Progress Report on Romania", OGP, http://www.opengovernmentpartnership.org.

[42] Interview with Marcel Sabados, Ministry of Youth and Sports (MTS), 10 September 2019.

[43] Interview with Mihai Dragos, CTR, 9 September 2019.

[44] Interview with Marcel Sabados, MTS, 10 September 2019; Interview with Mihai Dragos, CTR, 9 September 2019.

[45] Interview with Mihai Dragos, CTR, 9 September 2019.

[46] Interview with Marcel Sabados, MTS, 10 September 2019.

[47] Law 350/2006, art. 4e, available [in Romanian] at http://bit.ly/2kUatlg.

[48] Article 16 of PL-x 716/2018, available [in Romanian] at http://bit.ly/2kygSlK.

[49] "PL-x nr. 716/2018, Proiectul Legii Tineretului", Camera Deputatilor a Romaniei, available [in Romanian] at http://bit.ly/2mubVLl.

[50] Interview with Marcel Sabados, MTS, 10 September 2019.

[51] Interview with Mihai Dragos, CTR, 9 September 2019.

[52] Interview with Mihai Dragos, CTR, 9 September 2019.

Commitments

  1. Standardize Public Consultation Practices

    RO0048, 2018, E-Government

  2. Open Local Government

    RO0049, 2018, Capacity Building

  3. Citizen Budgets

    RO0050, 2018, Capacity Building

  4. Youth Participation

    RO0051, 2018, Capacity Building

  5. Register of Civil Society Proposals

    RO0052, 2018, E-Government

  6. Access to Information – Local

    RO0053, 2018, Capacity Building

  7. Online Business Sector Information

    RO0054, 2018, Capacity Building

  8. Digital Consular Services

    RO0055, 2018, Capacity Building

  9. Transparency in the Funding of Political Parties

    RO0056, 2018, Access to Information

  10. National Investment Fund Transparency

    RO0057, 2018, Access to Information

  11. Civil Servant Training

    RO0058, 2018, Capacity Building

  12. Raise Awareness About Corruption

    RO0059, 2018, Capacity Building

  13. Transparency of Seized Assets

    RO0060, 2018, Access to Information

  14. Access to Social Services

    RO0061, 2018, E-Government

  15. Open Access to Research

    RO0062, 2018, Access to Information

  16. Open Education

    RO0063, 2018, Access to Information

  17. Evaluate Open Data

    RO0064, 2018, Access to Information

  18. Open Data

    RO0065, 2018, Access to Information

  19. Improving the Legal Framework and Practices Regarding Access to Public Interest Information

    RO0030, 2016, Access to Information

  20. Centralized Publishing of Public Interest Information on the Single Gateway Transparenta.Gov.Ro

    RO0031, 2016, Capacity Building

  21. Promoting Open Parliament Principles

    RO0032, 2016, Capacity Building

  22. Starred commitment Improved Management of the Applications Submitted for Granting Citizenship

    RO0033, 2016, Capacity Building

  23. Standardization of Transparency Practices in the Decision-Making Procedures

    RO0034, 2016, Capacity Building

  24. Centralised Publication of Legislative Projects on the Single Gateway Consultare.Gov.Ro

    RO0035, 2016, Capacity Building

  25. Citizens Budgets

    RO0036, 2016, Capacity Building

  26. Improve Youth Consultation and Public Participation

    RO0037, 2016, Capacity Building

  27. Subnational Open Government

    RO0038, 2016, Capacity Building

  28. Promoting Transparency in the Decision-Making Process By Setting Up a Transparency Register (RUTI)

    RO0039, 2016, Anti-Corruption

  29. Access to Performance Indicators Monitored in the Implementation of the National Anticorruption Strategy (SNA)

    RO0040, 2016, Access to Information

  30. Improve Transparency in the Management of Seized Assets

    RO0041, 2016, Access to Information

  31. Annual Mandatory Training of Civil Servants on Integrity Matters

    RO0042, 2016, Anti-Corruption

  32. Improving Access to Cultural Heritage

    RO0043, 2016, Capacity Building

  33. Open Data and Transparency in Education

    RO0044, 2016, Access to Information

  34. Virtual School Library and Open Educational Resources

    RO0045, 2016, Capacity Building

  35. Open Contracting

    RO0046, 2016, Anti-Corruption

  36. Increasing the Quality and Quantity of Published Open Data

    RO0047, 2016, Access to Information

  37. Publishing the Public Interest Information on a Single Government Portal: Transparenta.Gov.Ro

    RO0019, 2014, Access to Information

  38. Making an Inventory of the Datasets Produced by the Ministries and Subordinate Agencies

    RO0020, 2014, Access to Information

  39. Starred commitment Ensuring the Free Online Access to National Legislation

    RO0021, 2014, E-Government

  40. Amending Law 109/2007 on the Re-Use of Public Sector Information

    RO0022, 2014, Access to Information

  41. Opening Data Collected from the National Health System

    RO0023, 2014, Access to Information

  42. Opening Data Collected from the Monitoring of Preventive Measures as Part of the National Anticorruption Strategy 2012-2015

    RO0024, 2014, Access to Information

  43. Open Contracting

    RO0025, 2014, Anti-Corruption

  44. Opening up Data Resulted from Publicly-Funded Research Projects

    RO0026, 2014, E-Government

  45. Increasing the Quality and Quantity of Published Open Data

    RO0027, 2014, Access to Information

  46. Human Resource Training in the Field of Open Data

    RO0028, 2014, Access to Information

  47. Disseminating Information on the OGP Principles and Promoting the Open Data Concept in an Accessible Manner

    RO0029, 2014,

  48. Designating a Person Responsible for Publishing Open Data in Each Public Institution

    RO0001, 2012, Access to Information

  49. Identifying Regulatory Needs, Logistical and Technical Solutions

    RO0002, 2012, Access to Information

  50. Making an Inventory of Available (High-Value) Data-Sets

    RO0003, 2012, Access to Information

  51. Priority Publishing on the Web Pages of Public Institutions of Specific Data-Sets

    RO0004, 2012, Access to Information

  52. Initiating Pilot-Projects, in Partnerships

    RO0005, 2012, Access to Information

  53. Organizing Public Debates on the Utility of Open Data, in Partnerships

    RO0006, 2012, Access to Information

  54. Uniform, Machine-Readable Publishing Format for Open Data

    RO0007, 2012, Access to Information

  55. Procedures for Publication of Data-Sets Based on Civil Society Recommendations

    RO0008, 2012, Access to Information

  56. Procedures for Citizen Complaints Pertaining to Open Data

    RO0009, 2012, Access to Information

  57. Consultation Mechanism Between Suppliers and Beneficiaries of Open Data

    RO0010, 2012, Access to Information

  58. Creating a Rating System for the Assessment of High-Value Data-Sets

    RO0011, 2012, Access to Information

  59. Routinely Publishing Specific Data-Sets on Web Pages of Public Institutions

    RO0012, 2012, Access to Information

  60. Integrating Open Data from Public Institutions in a Single National Platform

    RO0013, 2012, Access to Information

  61. Inventories of Data, in Order to Facilitate Public Access

    RO0014, 2012, Access to Information

  62. Institute a Monitoring Mechanism of Compliance for Open Data

    RO0015, 2012, Access to Information

  63. Stimulating the Market for Innovative Use of Open Data

    RO0016, 2012, Access to Information

  64. Routinely Publishing Data-Sets on the National Platform, 25% High-Value

    RO0017, 2012, Access to Information

  65. The Public Procurement Electronic System (SEAP). the Electronic Allocation System for Transports (SAET)/B.1 C) Expanding the On-Line Submission of Fiscal Forms. Ensuring the Free On-Line Access to National Legislation. Developing Electronic Tools to Manage Subpoenas and Facilitate Access Toinformation Regarding Legal Proceedings. Developing Electronic Tools to Manage the Procedures Related to Obtaining the Romanian Citizenship. Developing Electronic Tools to Manage the Procedures Related to the Creation of Non-Profit Legal Persons. the Integrated System for Electronic Access to Justice (SIIAEJ)

    RO0018, 2012, Access to Justice

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