6 Country Reports on Youth Work - Jugendpolitik in Europa

Table 47: Participants in youth work in Dutch municipalities
Comments:
Differences at local level
96
Total 13-14 % 15-19 % 20-24 % 25-30 % Missing
Cultural youth work 12 6 50% 6 50% / / 0
Sports 890 361 41% 324 36% 58 7% 105 12% 42
Education 105 15 14% 18 17% 3 3% / 69
Mentoring 80 64 80% 16 20% / / 0
Recreation 123 26 21% 88 72% 9 7% / 0
The survey of the four Dutch municipalities has contributed relevant information to the limited
picture of youth work drawn at national level. The main finding here is, that the nature and
scope of youth work at local level depends on the social structure and the special needs of
the inhabitants. In municipalities with underprivileged youth groups, greater efforts are made
to provide initiatives that support the integration of these young people, whereas in
municipalities with well-situated inhabitants there is to a greater extend a youth work
structure that is regulated by the market. Beyond this it is striking that also the social ideas of
the inhabitants also influence the provision of youth work.
Differences between national and local level
In contrast to the data about youth work available at national level in the Netherlands, the
data about the situation at local level highlights the high number of volunteers involved in
youth work. The training of these volunteers seems to depend on the tradition of the
providers, as one can find organisations where only a small number of volunteers are
trained, and others where this is the case for all of them. There is also another remarkable
trend: if the activities in which volunteers are involved are demanding, then most of them are
trained.
Regarding the age of the young people involved in youth work, the local survey has
confirmed the national level data that identified 12- to 16-year-olds as the main target group
of youth work. Sports, recreation, youth clubs and extracurricular youth education are the
main action fields of youth work identified at local level.
10.8 Norway
Data base:
The number of inhabitants, which can influence the number of public and voluntary youth
work activities, was the first criterion for the selection of the four municipalities. The second
was the level of urbanisation. In Norway there is large variation in the level of urbanisation
between the municipalities. It is possibly more challenging to conduct youth work in rural