6 Country Reports on Youth Work - Jugendpolitik in Europa
6 Country Reports on Youth Work - Jugendpolitik in Europa
6 Country Reports on Youth Work - Jugendpolitik in Europa
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focus<strong>in</strong>g <strong>on</strong>ly <strong>on</strong> young people <strong>in</strong> voluntary organisati<strong>on</strong>s. The <strong>in</strong>formant represent<strong>in</strong>g sports,<br />
youth clubs and youth associati<strong>on</strong>s believes that there is a lack of research <strong>in</strong> these areas of<br />
youth work and that there ought to be better rout<strong>in</strong>es for report<strong>in</strong>g relevant <strong>in</strong>formati<strong>on</strong>. The<br />
<strong>in</strong>formant from the Norwegian <strong>Youth</strong> Council adds that it is challeng<strong>in</strong>g to do research <strong>on</strong><br />
voluntary organisati<strong>on</strong>s because the volunteers do not have the time to participate. Voluntary<br />
youth workers are <strong>in</strong>terested <strong>in</strong> participati<strong>on</strong> <strong>in</strong> the activities of the organisati<strong>on</strong>s, not <strong>in</strong> fill<strong>in</strong>g<br />
out forms or participat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>terviews.<br />
The <strong>in</strong>formants from the Norwegian Associati<strong>on</strong> for <strong>Youth</strong> Clubs and the Norwegian <strong>Youth</strong><br />
Council see research as a means to achieve more visibility for their work, and believe that<br />
more knowledge would make it easier for them to get through to policy-makers. The<br />
<strong>in</strong>formants from the C<strong>on</strong>federati<strong>on</strong> of Sports and from Diak<strong>on</strong>hjemmet University College are<br />
c<strong>on</strong>cerned with research as a means to do a better job. They have more specific wishes for<br />
what k<strong>in</strong>d of research needs to be d<strong>on</strong>e. This could be because they represent the areas of<br />
youth work with the most available <strong>in</strong>formati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
11.9 Romania<br />
In order to validate the data gathered at local level, seven <strong>in</strong>terviews were c<strong>on</strong>ducted with<br />
people <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> youth work. There was<br />
128<br />
� <strong>on</strong>e representative of the Nati<strong>on</strong>al <strong>Youth</strong> Authority, resp<strong>on</strong>sible for the coord<strong>in</strong>ati<strong>on</strong> of<br />
the Department <strong>on</strong> Projects;<br />
� <strong>on</strong>e representative of the Nati<strong>on</strong>al Agency for Support<strong>in</strong>g Young Peoples’ Initiative,<br />
coord<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g the Department of Research <strong>on</strong> <strong>Youth</strong>;<br />
� two youth workers with<strong>in</strong> the local County <strong>Youth</strong> Departments and<br />
� two youth workers of the local youth organisati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
In terms of the way data <strong>on</strong> youth work and youth workers is collected: the ma<strong>in</strong> answers<br />
were provided by the representatives of the nati<strong>on</strong>al bodies. They menti<strong>on</strong>ed that all youth<br />
activities funded through public m<strong>on</strong>ey are reported. They did not see any problem <strong>in</strong> the<br />
way data was reported, especially the representative of the NYA, who menti<strong>on</strong>ed that they<br />
were the <strong>on</strong>es who had c<strong>on</strong>structed this system of report<strong>in</strong>g by design<strong>in</strong>g the Nati<strong>on</strong>al Plan<br />
for Acti<strong>on</strong> for <strong>Youth</strong> and developed the methodology for fund<strong>in</strong>g youth activities. The NAY<br />
representative was not very open about talk<strong>in</strong>g about “youth workers”, as if this did not<br />
represent a topic of discussi<strong>on</strong> or <strong>in</strong>terest of this <strong>in</strong>stituti<strong>on</strong>. Many of the current NAY<br />
programs and policies focus <strong>on</strong> youth activities and <strong>on</strong> promot<strong>in</strong>g these activities, but ma<strong>in</strong>ly<br />
by cooperat<strong>in</strong>g with youth NGOs. Also, their present programme of develop<strong>in</strong>g a network of<br />
youth centres <strong>in</strong> the whole country with qualified pers<strong>on</strong>nel serv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> these centres was<br />
menti<strong>on</strong>ed as a form of promot<strong>in</strong>g youth work at nati<strong>on</strong>al level.