Youth Sector Development Plan 2021-30, Estonia
YOUTH
The Youth Sector Development Plan 2021-30 (Noorsoo valdkonna arengukava 2021-30) aims to support young people in accessing development opportunities, improving their sense of security and facilitating their participation in the labour market. The Plan highlights the need to support youth entrepreneurship and introduces strategic goals, including the strategic goal “Supporting Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Ideas of Young People”. These goals will be measured through key performance indicators, including the number of youth-led projects and the ratio of young entrepreneurs among all 18-26 years old.
Young people tend to have more limited rights and opportunities compared to other age groups, notably in integrating the labour market. Supporting young people has been and continues to be a high policy priority in Estonia, notably beginning in 2001 when the youth sector became regulated on a state level. In 2006, Estonia implemented a youth policy that specifically aimed to introduced co-ordinated actions across different areas of life for young people. In continuation of this work on supporting young people, the Government of the Republic developed the Youth Sector Development Plan 2021-30 in 2019 in consultation with representatives of the youth sector and other stakeholders to ensure the goals and actions defined were tailored to the needs of young people.
Encouraging entrepreneurship and providing support to young people to pursue business creation is one of the strategic objectives of the Plan. It outlines that young people should receive entrepreneurship support, including through mentoring, dedicated workspace as well as resources to support youth integration into the labour market. It also outlines the need to ensure access to training programmes where young people can develop their entrepreneurial skills and knowledge. The Plan outlines several activities intended to foster more entrepreneurial motivations and intentions among young people, including through the development of entrepreneurship programmes for young people, the facilitation of innovation through smart youth work solutions, support activities to reduce young people’s withdrawal from school as well as to support their hobbies related to STEM-subjects and entrepreneurship.
The Plan identifies a number of indicators to monitor and evaluate the progress of the strategic objectives set forth. These include the number of youth-led projects including the percent of funded projects as well as the ratio of young entrepreneurs (18-26 years old).
Republic of Estonia. (2019). Youth Sector Development Plan 2021-2035. https://www.hm.ee/sites/default/files/documents/2022-10/ee_youth_sector_development_plan_2021-2035_en_0.pdf