Slovenia joined the European programmes in the field of youth, at that time the Youth for Europe Programme, on 1 May 1999, exactly 5 years before the country joined the European Union. Today, Slovenia - when it comes to the field of youth work - participates in the Erasmus+ programme in the field of youth and the European Solidarity Corps programme, and the scope of support provided by these programmes represents an important pillar of support for the implementation of youth work and its development, also in the national context of youth work. The growing capacity of the programmes to support youth work projects is also reflected in the increasing volume of funding available to support projects from applicants from Slovenia. From a modest €381,000 in 2000 to € 7.325.928 this year, the funds available for support from the programmes have increased significantly for the first time with Slovenia's accession to the EU.

As the amount of funding available increases, so too does the number of young people who can benefit from youth work projects supported by the programmes each year. In 2023, programmes supported the participation of 7.027 young people in 169 projects submitted by applicants from Slovenia. On the other hand, the cooperation of Slovenian actors in youth work with partners in other countries is a source of learning about good practices and different approaches in youth work, which represent a strong incentive and support for the development of youth work in Slovenia. In fact, a number of projects supported by the programmes provide opportunities for systematic training of youth workers and youth group leaders, as well as for in-depth work with partners in other countries on the development of the content and approaches of youth work. The activities of MOVIT, the national agency in the field of youth in Slovenia, are also important in this youth work development dimension of programmes and represent the broadest, continuous range of opportunities for the development of youth work actors in Slovenia.

In this part of the implementation of the programmes, it is worth mentioning one of the important development initiatives at European level, in which the Slovenian National Agency is the lead partner. The main biannual event of the European Youth Work Academy, which is dedicated to promoting and mainstreaming innovation in youth work and also has its place in the European Agenda for Youth Work, will take place this May - for the third time in a row - in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.

Janez Škulj