There is no official definition of youth work in Croatia. For the first time, in 2014, youth work found its place in an official national document. The National Youth Programme (2014-2017) emphasised the importance of youth work as “…a set of activities which contribute to the personal and social development of young people. Participation in youth work activities is voluntary and complementary to formal education. Youth work activities contribute to the development of self-confidence and self-respect in young people, as well as the competences necessary for the creation and maintenance of quality personal and social relations. Youth work offers young people opportunities to learn and develop competences across various fields. It also enables young people for active participation in society and decision-making processes”. This provisional definition heavily relied on European best practices and was not an outcome of a wider national debate or research. Therefore, one of the measures of the National Youth Programme (2014-2017) stipulated that analysis and definition of youth work in Croatia should be completed by the end of 2017. As of January 2021, the measure has not been implemented. Moreover, the expired National Youth Programme still does not have a successor and a potential youth work definition in Croatia remains elusive. 

A glimpse into a common understanding of youth work can be gleaned from the 2016 survey on the youth work profession conducted by the Croatian Employment Service. The survey shows that youth professionals understand youth work as a variety of tasks which are, among others, normally carried out by teachers, social workers or psychologists. It is obvious that the term “youth work” in Croatia is rather vague and can be seen as a stretched concept.

This, in turn, is also a result of linguistic ambiguities concerning the term “youth work” in Croatian. Although there is no official consensus, “youth work” in Croatian is usually called “rad s mladima”, which literally translates into English as “working with youth”. As such, it is not a coherent concept but rather a descriptive category without specific meaning, as many professionals across many different disciplines “work with youth”. As a consequence, youth work is generally poorly understood, except by a very limited circle of experts.

The status of youth worker is not recognized in the national legislation and there are no specific standards and criteria for youth workers.

There are no specific tools for recognition/validation/accreditation of competences acquired by young people participating in youth work activities. The only recognition tool promoted by the national authorities is the so-called Certificate of competences acquired during volunteering. However, the tool had not been developed specifically for young people but for volunteers of all ages. 

Young people participating in international activities within the Erasmus+ programme are encouraged to use YouthPass - Recognition tool for non-formal & informal learning in youth projects.

(From the Youth Wiki)