National youth program

Measure 7. MAKING USE OF THE EXISTING AND CREATION OF NEW INFRASTRUCTURE TO BE 
USED FOR THE WIDE MOVEMENT “SPORT FOR ALL”
IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITY:
DURATION OF 
IMPLEMENTATION:
7.1. To conduct an analysis of the situation and needs in counties regarding 
school recreation facilities.
2010
7.2. To draft a plan of renewal and construction of sport-recreation facilities 
in accordance with the analysis.
2011
CARRIER:
Ministry of Science, Education and Sport
COLLABORATORS IN THE 
IMPLEMENTATION:
Ministry of Sea, Transportation and Infrastructure
local and regional self-administration
Croatian Sport Recreation Association “Sport for All”
FUNDING:
Ministry of Science, Education and Sport
REQUIRED FUNDING:
resources from regular activities of state administration bodies
IMPLEMENTATION 
INDICATORS:
− conducted analysis of the situation and needs
− drafted plan of rebuilding and construction of sport-recreation 
facilities

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Measure 8. PROMOTION OF IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITY:
DURATION OF 
IMPLEMENTATION:
8.1. To encourage professional and scientific projects dealing with physical 
activities of young people.
ongoing
8.2. To finance through public tenders projects in sport with the emphasis 
on financing sport associations that in their projects and activities stimulate 
mass recreational sport for young people.
2009 and ongoing
CARRIER:
Ministry of Science, Education and Sport
COLLABORATORS IN THE 
IMPLEMENTATION:
Croatian Olympics Bord
Office for NGOs of the Government of the Republic of Croatia
Agency for Upbringing and Education
civil society organizations from the field of sport focused on 
working with youth
FUNDING:
Ministry of Science, Education and Sport
REQUIRED FUNDING:
resources from regular activities of state administration bodies
IMPLEMENTATION 
INDICATORS:
− the research conducted
− the number of programs and the amount invested in financed 
programs
− program of systematic informing drafted
− media campaign conducted

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7. MOBILITY, INFORMING AND COUNSELLING
7.1. Youth mobility
Youth are the most mobile part of society. Under the notion of youth mobility, we understand 
educational, cultural and tourist mobility of youth and their inclusion into international 
co-operation and exchange. Mobility enables the exchange of ideas and enrichment of 
experiences, and by ensuring openness in communication with other societies and cultures, 
it develops in young people a sense of understanding and respect for mutual differences.
Globalization processes and strengthening of competitiveness on the labour market 
influence the increase in the interest of young people for better understanding of the world 
and different cultures and acquisition of new experiences, knowledge and skills. In today’s 
contemporary world, all three areas of youth mobility, i.e. tourist, educational and cultural 
mobility, develop extremely fast continuously expanding specialised programs which 
enable the youth to obtain quality learning about the world but also about themselves. Also, 
direct experience of other cultures, customs and people mainly affects the development 
of positive values and the sense of understanding, tolerance and respect for differences, 
and at the same time ensures to youth preconditions for flow of ideas and development of 
comparative standards.
The problems youth face in today’s complex society may no longer be satisfactorily 
solved only on local or even national levels. Faced with a certain problem or showing a 
special interest for a certain topic, more and more young people search for experiences 
of their peers from other countries and cultures. Therefore, non-formal education makes 
the basic component in the development of youth mobility, i.e. youth tourism being its 
most comprehensive segment within which, in addition to offers for individual and tourist 
trips, larger and larger place is taken by educational (learning foreign languages abroad, 
participation in specialized courses, trainings and seminar activities, etc.) and work trips 
(work & study programs, internship programs, volunteer programs, etc.). Unlike the field of 
institutional and formal education, the developed youth tourism infrastructure gives youth 
the opportunity to organize their own learning, personal development and acquisition 
of practical experience through direct and interactive participation in various activities, 
disregarding the fact whether a tourist trip is in question, or the main motive for the 
trip are education, work or participation in cultural programs and events. Therefore, the 
support of society for values of youth and student travels is more and more expressed, and 
‘‘educational institutions, potential employers and parents themselves recognize them as a 
very important experience for personal development and understanding of the world we 
live in’’ (Tadej, 2006).
In Croatia, only in the last two years, we notice the improvement and progress in the interest 
and care of society for the development of youth mobility and youth tourism infrastructure 
development. The key reason for the slow development of youth mobility and youth 
tourism is the combination of poor informing of youth and insufficiently developed youth 
tourism infrastructure.

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Although we register an increase in the number of hostels, which are the basis of the 
youth tourism infrastructure, they are mainly the facilities with small capacities providing 
only accommodation service in main urban centers of Croatia. The development of such 
accommodation capacities reponding more adequately to financial abilities of youth is 
praiseworthy, particularly because of the fact that opening of those hostels represents a new 
entrepreneurial initiative of young people, but if Croatia wants to have a developed youth 
tourism structure and thereby significantly increase youth mobility level in the near future, 
multifunctional youth hostels of bigger capacities, which respond by their offer to needs of 
young individuals but also of various groups, will be necessary. Thereby, Croatia becomes 
more accessible to young people from the country and abroad by offering, particularly to 
groups, more favourable conditions for the realization of various programs aimed at young 
people (seminar activities, trainings and other thematic gatherings). Of the total number of 
categorized hostels in Croatia (35) there are only six (6) such multifunctional youth hostels 
which at the same time satisfy the standards set by the Hostelling International system. In 
addition to Rijeka, where the direct and quality co-operation of local authorities with the 
national hostel association was realized on the project of opening the first youth hostel in 
the city, which is still the accommodation facility of the highest quality in the entire country, 
three other biggest university and urban centers (Zagreb, Osijek and Split) do not have 
multifunctional youth hostels that would work during the entire year (a kind of exception 
is Zagreb, where it is necessary to complete the project of adaptation of a youth hostel 
into the highly standardized accommodation and education center for youth). Also, for 
example, in the area of Plitvice Lakes, which represents unique natural heritage, there is no 
adequate accommodation and education youth center, and in the inland Croatia, there are 
not even simple forms of hostel accommodation. Thereby, individual mobility of youth in 
Croatia, opening of Croatia to youth from other countries are reduced, and at the same time, 
conditions for realization of school travels (trips, excursions and out-of-class field programs) 
and familiarizing school children with different Croatian regions are more difficult.
Travel and discount international cards for youth and students, the most important of which 
are EURO<26 and ISIC card, which stimulate youth mobility, are still held by less than 5 
thousand young persons. An increase in the number of young holders of these cards would 
influence the increase in quality discounts for youth, particularly in travel transportation, 
and at the same time, it would improve informing youth and students about favourable 
travel conditions and opportunities for their participation in various educative and tourist 
programs. Unlike most European countries, Croatia has still not unified the national student 
card (IKS), which does not have a significant value in use or international verification, with 
international student identity card ISIC, although this is a simple and favourable unifying 
process.
On the global level, in addition to a significant increase in the number of young people 
and students who travel and participate in various activities of non-formal education, 
the academic mobility of students is increasing dramatically. In comparison with other 
countries, Croatia has inadmissibly low percentage of student mobility (according to 
OECD assessment, only around 0.02% of Croatian students study abroad or are involved 
in academic exchange programs – Manual ‘‘Enlargement of the Croatian Academic 
Cummunity Mobility: Entrance of Croatia into Erasmus Program’’, 2008).

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One of the key problems is the lack of institutional information sources in universities, 
but for an adequate solution of low academic mobility of Croatian students’ problems, it 
is necessary to create a separate overall strategy for increasing academic mobility for the 
purpose of greater inclusion of Croatia into the mobility programs of the EU and for the 
active promotion of wider meaning and importance of mobility and international exchange 
in formal education which is not a subject of the National Youth Action Program, which 
primarily focuses on conditions for the development of non-formal education.