Italy

Youth policies in Italy are based on a bottom-up approach, a distinct feature of Italian youth legislation, according to the EU Youth Wiki. The Youth Wiki highlights that currently 17 of the 20 Italian regions have adopted youth laws. In addition, the development of a national framework law on youth is under discussion.

A national youth policy framework is developed annually through the allocation of the National Fund for Youth Policies. Importantly, the fund distinguishes between "interventions of national importance" and "interventions of territorial relevance", which have a more regional or local focus. The yearly allocation process of the fund involves two main pieces of legislation:

1. An agreement at the Unified Conference sets how the fund is distributed between the interventions of national importance and the interventions of territorial relevance, and outlines the priorities for the territorial interventions. The conference includes the national government, the regions, the autonomous provinces, the Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI), and the Union of Italian Provinces (UPI).
2. A ministerial decree then confirms the share allocation agreed upon in the Unified Conference agreement and formulates the interventions of national importance.

In 2022, the Unified Conference Agreement of 11 May 2022 (Rep. Act n.77/CU) and the Ministerial Decree of 14 June 2022 allocated 51 percent of the fund to interventions of territorial relevance and 49 percent to interventions of national importance.

The EU Youth Wiki highlights that "the current youth strategy does not provide for the participation of young people in its formulation."

According to the EU Youth Wiki, the "Prime Minister is the authority in charge of youth policies", but this responsibility may be delegated to a third party: currently the Minister for Sport and Youth. The minister oversees the Department for Youth Policy and the Universal Civic Service (DPGSCU), which carries out the implementation and coordination of youth policy.

The department's mandate includes the implementation of the youth strategy, the promotion of youth rights, the management and implementation of the Universal Civic Service programme, and representing Italy at the European and international level on youth policy matters.

The DPGSCU is divided into three general management-level offices, one of which is the Youth Policy Office. According to its website, this office evaluates and monitors youth policy, promotes the interest of young people, advocates for and supports youth work, and manages relations with the National Youth Council, among other mandates.

As mandated by law, the DPGSCU receives an annual General Directive for Administrative Action and Management (latest available from 2022) from the minister, which outlines the department's strategic and operational objectives on the basis of the resources allocated to it for the financial year.

The National Youth Council (CNG) was established in 2019 by Law No. 145/2018 on the 2019 National Budget, thereby replacing the National Youth Forum (see Article 475).

According to its statutes, the National Youth Council is an independent and democratic association that promotes the rights and interests of young people vis-�-vis the government. The CNG strives to promote dialogue between institutions, youth organisations and young people, toassist in overcoming obstacles to young people's participation in democracy, and tofoster active citizenship of young people, among other objectives.

The CNG is required to submit a yearly programme report to the Department for Youth Policy and the Universal Civic Service (DPGSCU) to obtain funding. In the report for 2023-2025, the CNG outlined their top policy recommendations for this period, focusing on the following six thematic areas:

1. Employment, training and social policies;
2. Rights and gender policies;
3. Citizenship and civil service;
4. Culture, sports, legality, health;
5. Environment and agriculture;
6. European and international cooperation.

The professional field of youth work is not formally recognised on a national level in Italy, but the situation is in flux. As highlighted in the Annual Activity Report 2019 of the National Agency for Youth (ANG), "the field of Youth Work is mostly left to decentralised regional and local legislation with few normative references in national legislative acts."

On a subnational level, the report notes that as of 2019, 18 regions recognise youth workers or related designations through laws, regulations or qualification schemes.

According to the EU Youth Wiki, a national law for the recognition of youth work and youth workers is "currently under discussion." In the context of the draft law, youth worker is translated as "socio-educational instructor for youth" (Animatore Socio-educativo per i Giovani). It was not possible to obtain a copy of the draft.

In 2021, the University of Suor Orsola Benincasa, in cooperation with the National Agency for Youth (ANG) and the Santobono-Pausilipon Foundation, launched the country's first Master's in Youth Work. However, it is unclear whether the programme is still running, as its website has not been updated since 2021.

Some regions have also taken the first steps towards the launch of professional training paths for youth workers. For example, the program "Next Generation Youth Worker" (2018) aims to create a space for comparison, exchange, reflection and planning for youth workers in the Tuscany region.

According to the Department for Youth Policy and the Universal Civic Service, government policies in support of youth have been funded by the National Fund for Youth Policies since 2006. The fund was established by Article 19, paragraph 2 of Legislative Decree 223/2006, which in turn was converted into law by Law No. 248/2006.

The fund's financing is ensured in the annual budget of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister). In the preliminary note to the 2022 budget, the fund was allocated EUR 85.86 million (USD 92.85 million) in 2022, plus an additional EUR 5 million (USD 5.41 million) for national activities in support of the European Year of the Youth.

According to the Ministerial Decree of 14 June 2022, the final amount available to the fund after a readjustment by the Budget and Accounting Office was EUR 83.71 million (USD 90.52 million).

In the overall national budget law of 2022, the sum for the National Fund for Youth Policies is included in programme area 30.2 - "Encouragement and support for youth".

According to the EU Youth Wiki, the National Youth Council (CNG) has been allocated EUR 1 million (USD 1.08 million) in public funding in 2023. This number could not be independently verified.