National Youth Council of Slovenia

The National Youth Council of Slovenia (MSS) is the umbrella organization of national youth organizations that strives to create an environment enabling young people to develop into independent and responsible adults. Our main goal is to provide youths with the opportunity, means and support to participate in and influence decisions, and to be included in actions and activities that contribute to the quality of life in local communities and more broadly in society. MSS advocates the rights of youths and creates documents presenting the views of youths on a variety of topics, including youth employment, education, mobility, participation, volunteering, health care, access to information, and youth housing. MSS represents the youth primarily at the national level – it maintains regular dialogue with the national bodies, such as ministries, governmental offices etc.., appealing to their current youth initiatives presenting comments on working papers participating in different governmental consultative bodies as a voice of youth, and monitoring legislation by making proposals on laws and other regulations dealing with the situation of youth at various committees and parliamentary groups. At the local level, MSS fosters dialogue with youth primarily through its members – national youth organizations – and through local community youth councils. The MSS also works closely with secondary schools and faculties. Since the beginning of the EU Youth Dialogue process, MSS is carrying out a national youth dialogue project for youths, youth organizations, and other organizations working with youths, youth councils in local communities, and local and national authorities, with a view to achieving common objectives for better social inclusion of youths, focusing on their employability and awareness of acquired skills. MSS has 13 members out of them, 11 are national youth organizations from scouts, rural youth, youth wings of political parties, students clubs and other that have local branches and that help us to reach people on grass root level easier than if we would just be working on national level. We gather youth organisations with different political, ideological or interest orientations, together representing more than 15000 young Slovenians.