Project Overview and Publications

For almost 40 years, the Youth Services Grant Scheme (YSGS) has supported National Youth Organisations in delivering services that have benefited the social and personal development of children and young people. Over the last four decades, these supports have facilitated the provision of valuable and varied youth services to Ireland’s young people. However, certain aspects of the YSGS are outdated and in its current form, the scheme is no longer fit for purpose. This project will aim towards a holistic reform of the YSGS in order to deliver a scheme that is more responsive to the current needs of young people, that facilitates national youth organisations to more effectively deliver services, and that benefits from improved governance and oversight.

Public spending and grant funding rules and regulations have developed significantly since the inception of the YSGS. While the rules for oversight and administration of the YSGS have been updated to account for some of these changes, further reforms are required to fully modernise the YSGS. These include requirements for the implementation of performance management and outcome assessments now associated with grant funding.

The objectives underpinning the YSGS reform project are:

Improve accessibility to YSGS, utilising input and insights from children and young people to create conditions for increasing the rates of participation in universal youth services.
Develop mechanisms that empower funded organisations to actively and agilely respond to demographic and other dynamic factors impacting children and young people
Institute governance standards that enhance levels of assurance and oversight with respect to Exchequer funding
Ensure the grant funding process is transparent and rooted in evidence
Provide for transparent access to the reformed YSGS, thereby facilitating the evolution of the YSGS to better reflect contemporary universal youth services environment

Engagement with stakeholders, in conjunction with commissioned research, has helped in the development of the project’s deliverables. The target timeframe will see the core deliverables being approved and ready for implementation prior to January 2024 funding cycle; with the remainder being ready for implementation in time for January 2025.

Policy Context

The Youth Work Act, 2001 provides for the legislative basis for youth work in this State. Section 3 of the act defines the nature of youth work as:

… A planned programme of education designed for the purpose of aiding and enhancing the personal and social development of young persons through their voluntary participation, and which is—

a) Complementary to their formal, academic or vocational education and training; and

b) Provided primarily by voluntary youth work organisations.

The reform of the YSGS will take cognisance of this definition when issues such as intent, purpose and eligibility criteria for the reformed scheme are reviewed and refined. In addition to this act, a number of national and trans-national strategies and frameworks will inform the reform of the YSGS; these include:

1. Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures: The National Policy Framework for Children and Young People, 2014-2020

2. National Strategy on Children and Young People’s Participation in Decision-Making

3. National Quality Standards Framework (NQSF) for Youth Work

4. National Framework for Children and Young People’s Participation in Decision-making

5. EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027

6. Charities Governance Code

Project Publications

1. Policy Options Paper

2. Findings of preliminary stakeholder engagement with National Youth Organisations