6 Country Reports on Youth Work - Jugendpolitik in Europa

structures. Cooperation with the police and youth care, for example, is becoming increasingly
popular, and schools are becoming the main cooperation partner for youth workers. For
schools, cooperation with youth workers seems desirable for two reasons. Firstly, school
children with a low affinity for formal learning might respond better to the non-formal learning
environments often found in youth work contexts. Secondly, youth work activities can be
offered at schools in the afternoon, thus helping all-day schools to put together an attractive
programme for their students.
Beside the low political priority of youth work, the sparse funding available for it and the lack
of coordination between its organisations and providers were also underlined. Respondents
noted that singular flows of funds naturally lead to singular projects. In other words, where no
money is earmarked for networking and coordination, networking and coordination will also
find it difficult to develop. They are additionally hampered by the low profile of youth work in
general, which causes remarkable differences between the offers of youth work and
significant fluctuation within them.
When referring to recent changes, respondents highlighted a changed mentality. While
volunteering, activation and self-organisation were still rather new concepts requiring active
support a decade ago, they are common ideas nowadays. Indeed, recognition of these ideas
sometimes goes so far that voluntary commitment is required and taken for granted, which
casts doubts on its true voluntariness. School children, for example, are urged to engage in
voluntary social activities. But it is not only school children that are roped into volunteer work:
voluntary organisations themselves are also experiencing the pressure to become
autonomous. Their financial support has been drastically cut in the last few years, and the
remaining funding usually only serves as start-up financing. The amount of money allocated
to them is, generally speaking, rather small and connected to strict bureaucratic
requirements. Some of the interviewees even stated that the unfavourable ratio of funding to
red tape serves as a disincentive to look for funding.
For the future, however, interviewees tended to draw a more encouraging scenario.
Acknowledging the establishment of a Ministry for Youth and Families, some interviewees
voiced the hope for an increasing amount of attention being paid to youth work. Whether this
will indeed be the case still needs to be seen. But what the Ministry will definitely achieve is a
bundling of information and decision-making.
11.8 Norway
Five informants were selected to participate in the interviews:
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� the secretary-general of the Norwegian Association for Youth Clubs,
� the secretary-general of the Norwegian Youth Council,
� an adviser on child and youth sports at the Confederation of Sports,