Speaking Out in Europe

Advocacy is about speaking out on important issues to influence decision-makers. The development of youth policies at national level, to ensure that the needs of young people are taken into account when government plans are made, is an important issue for many Member Organizations, particularly in Europe. In Latvia, the Scouts and Guides of Latvia have been working with the Latvian National Youth Council to advocate for a youth law.

Nothing about us, without us!

Latvia has been one of the few countries in Europe in recent years where there has been no youth law, youth policy or state budget for youth activities. Youth NGOs received hardly any support from the state as there was no legal basis for youth policy, which is essential to create a system of youth participation and financial support.

In 2002 the National Youth Council took the initiative to create a youth law in . Experts from different fields and 10 young people from different youth NGOs (including the Scouts and Guides of Latvia) drafted the first youth law. In 2003, they began the process to get the law passed by the Latvian Government. A youth law would ensure that there was a legal recognition for the different youth policy ‘actors’ (e.g.: state, youth NGOs, local municipalities, institutions, etc.). It would also identify the rights and responsibilities of these different ‘actors’ and introduce a legal basis so the State and local municipalities could support youth NGOs.

There were a lot of barriers even to get the draft youth law onto the political agenda:

Youth policy wasn’t a priority for the government
There was no ministry who was directly responsible for youth policy
There was no clear understanding of the value of youth NGOs in Latvian society

Over the last six years, there have been many challenges in the process to get the Youth law accepted but there was always a vision – the need to have a Youth law in , which will be the instrument for making better world for young people in the country.

There have also been some significant policy successes: a youth policy programme for 2005-2009 has been established and the budget increased from 21,374 Euros in 2006 to 476, 696 euro in 2007. An Advisory Council in the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs has been established and, as a result, there has been very close cooperation between Youth NGOs and the government on different youth policy topics.

The Latvian Scouts and Guides were actively involved in all processes of the development of the youth law. The organization believes that it is really important to be in the place where decisions are being made about young people. Latvian Scouts and Guides were on the board of the National Youth Council and active in some of the working groups of the National Youth Council. They were also active members of the Youth Organization Advisory Council in the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs. They actively participated in the different meetings of the parliamentary subcommittees where youth law was discussed. This enabled the Latvian Scouts and Guides to react as the draft youth law was changed and gave them the opportunity to develop personal contacts with several members of parliament, who they could then lobby on other important issues.

Thanks to the efforts of youth NGOs, including the Latvian Scouts and Guides, the Youth law was passed in May 2008. However, their work is not finished - they will continue to lobby the government for a bigger and more stable budget line to ensure the youth law will work.