1. Lasse Siurala, PhD, Director of the City of HelsinkiYouth Department The Youth Directors Meeting Saariselkä, Finland, 8. – 10 October 2006 The capacity of national youth policies to respond to emerging changes

2. Towards responsive Youth policies DESIGNING STRATEGIES - strategic alliances and partnerships - linking local & regional level - preparing for evaluation RUNNING ACTION LEARNING AND REDESIGNING - evaluation, reflection and feedback RECEIVING SIGNALS - political expectations - scientific knowledge - experiental knowledge For more detailed discussion, see Siurala, Lasse (2006) A European Framework for Youth Policy, Directorate of Youth and Sports, Council of Europe

3. Developing an appropriate management strategy Information management/programme management  Open method of co-ordination Management through projects Setting general objectives and providing resources Strategic management  Results based budgets and wages system Types of public sector management:

4. Where are we doing? Key elements of public management reforms: Reduction of public expenditure Building on networks and partnerships Increasing performance and accountability Better fit to the individual needs of the citizens Pollit, C & Bouckaert, G: Public Management Reform, A Comparative Analysis, Oxford University Press 2004. For implications to the youth field, see Siurala, lasse: The Future of Public Youth Policy and its Management (www.nuoriso.fi ‘articles of the director’)www.nuoriso.fi

5. Discussion Responsive youth policy builds on receiving good signals and on continuous learning from its own practices. Appropriate policy management strategies are needed to bridge the ‘implementation gap’. What is ‘appropriate management’ depend on the administrative culture and context of the youth administration. Objective setting and implementation measures vary according to the nature of youth policy and youth work structures of municipalities, regions and governments The problem of contextualisation: the contexts of youth work practice are very varied – how can policy objectives leave room for grass root flexibility? There are pros and cons in each of the management procedures.

6. To sum up: there is a need of –central guidance, –horizontal and vertical learning processes, –participatory objective setting, –transparent strategies, –clear ownership of processes, –accountability, –contextualisation