At the proposal of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has adopted at its today’s session, held in Sarajevo, the Decision initiating the process of developing the Youth Strategy of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina until the Year 2027.

The Youth Strategy is a sectoral strategic document of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina that defines the programme approach to action towards the young people, including the definition of problems and needs of the young people, strategic directions of action, as well as the goals of the strategy and measures for the realization of these objectives. The Youth Strategy will be developed on the basis of key principles of drafting the strategic documents in the Federation, in accordance with the Regulation on Drafting the Strategic Documents in the FBiH.

“I am happy that the beginning of the term is marked with an activity for which we have been waiting for a long time, and that is to finally define the Youth Strategy. I want to believe that we shall, together with other stakeholders, offer this most important document for the young people in the Federation of BiH within the given deadline. At the same time, I want to thank the employees of the Ministry for not having given up and for having started with the same enthusiasm even after many years the activities on the creation of the Youth Strategy of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina!” said the Federal Minister of Culture and Sports, Sanja Vlaisavljević, after today’s session of the FBiH Government.

The primary Act that regulates the issues of interest to the life, position and activities of the young people in the Federation of BiH is the FBiH Youth Act, adopted in 2010. With the adoption of this Act, the young people in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina received a legal framework that defined their age and numerous mechanisms for working with young people. Furthermore, the Act obliged all levels of the government to take care of young people and gave them precise ways to act.

Also, the Act regulated the area of ​​organising the young people through youth associations and their representative bodies, youth councils, and obliged all levels of the government in the Federation to plan, develop and implement strategies for young people.

According to the provisions of this Act, the Youth Strategy is defined as a document of government institutions with a programme approach to actions towards young people, which includes the defined problems and needs of young people, strategic directions of action, as well as strategy goals and measures for the realisation of strategy goals. It also stipulates that all levels of the government in the Federation are obliged to define, adopt and implement strategies for young people.

According to the Decision, adopted today, the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports is responsible for the creation of the Youth Strategy. The Ministry will appoint an intersectional working group for the creation of the Strategy within 15 days from the date of this Decision having entered into force. Also, the Decision determined the ministries and other administrative bodies at the level of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina that, within the framework of their competences and in accordance with the provisions of the FBiH Youth Act, should submit to the Ministry proposals for appointing representatives to the working group, no later than within seven days from the date of this Decision having entered into force.

The Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports coordinates and leads the process of drafting the Youth Strategy, respecting the principle of horizontal and vertical coordination. The deadline for the Strategy drafting is six months from the date of this Decision having entered into force. After the procedures of drafting the Youth Strategy have been carried out and the views of all the involved stakeholders have been agreed upon, the adopted proposal will be submitted to all cantons for their opinion.

At the proposal of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Government has issued today a conclusion instructing all federal ministries, federal administrations and federal administrative organisations to submit all data on the activities they carry out for the young people to the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports, which will establish a database and inform the young people about the measures and programs implemented by the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in accordance with the FBiH Youth Act.