Youth work in Hungary

Mobilitas National Youth Service

Mobilitas National Youth Service has been an important actor of the institutional system of the Hungarian youth work and policy for the last 15 years. In 1995, the Minister of Culture and Education established the institution – under the name: Mobilitas Youth Service – as the National Agency of the EU program for the communities of young people (Youth Programme).

The areas of action covered by the institution have been significantly broadened in the past years. In the end of 1999, the Minister of Youth and Sport established the Regional Youth Services in each statistical region of Hungary, which – by providing the services needed and acting as background institutions of the Regional Youth Board (a selection committee for the regional budget of the National Child and Youth Fund) – also became integrated parts of Mobilitas Youth Service.

The task of developing the human resources of the communities of youth and that of the non-governmental organisations were also delegated to the institution parallel to the establishment of the network of the regional offices. From 1999 onward, the institution has also been acting as the coordinator of the Hungarian Eurodesk network, in which the regional offices have been playing an important role.

After 2007, the ESZA Kht. took over the responsibility for the administrative management of the applications to and tenders of the National Child and Youth Fund, and Mobilitas National Youth Service, now working under its new and present name is strengthening its developer, adviser and trainer role.

Our Mission

Our primary goal is to secure the necessary conditions for youth participation and to encourage young people to take social responsibility. To create the sufficient political, environmental milieu, our institution aims to:
- support and disseminate the forms of youth participation, the process of aquiring the needed competencies and methods for developing local, regional and national youth policies and strategies, and those for community involvement;
- collect and communicate the information and know-how necessary for youth work, develop the competencies of those concerned, and support the work delivered by those participating in youth work;
- contribute to the social recognition of youth work and its method, the nonformal education, and disseminate and present to a wider circle the results and achievements of youth work.

Our tasks

Mobilitas National Youth Service
- supports the government in its professional, developer and service providing activities to reach the goals of its youth policy;
- acts as a knowledge and competence centre of Hungarian youth work and services, which with the aid of operating, developing and exploring regional, national and international resources and tools also supports the cooperation of governmental, non-governmental and economic sectors;
- promotes the development of the competencies of young people and their communities so as to create social cohesion (through the improvement of the social integration of young people and the quality of democracy) and a competitive, knowledge based society always acting in line with the notions and practices of openness, flexibility and partnership;
- functions as the national coordinator of the Eurodesk network of the European Commission;
- cooperates with the European Youth Centre (of the Council of Europe) in Budapest on the fields of youth policy and training;
- functions as the secretariat of the Child and Youth Programme, cooperates with the organisation in charge of the administrative management of the calls and applications;
- prepares and provides professional assistance to the decision making of the Council of the Programme, and that of the Regional Councils;
- according to the contract signed with the European Council a responsible office of the institution manages the budget of the youth programme of the Council transferred to Hungary, and fulfils all other tasks of national coordination ordained by the Council according to the related acts;
- contributes to the development of civic society, and fosters the participation of young people in the planning, organising and evaluating of their narrower and boarder communities, and helps the realization of the initiatives of the young people and the recognition of voluntary work.

Further information: www.mobilitas.hu