Budget Committee clean-up meeting: failure to strengthen the federal centre's infrastructure is a serious mistake

Structural support is an indispensable foundation of child and youth welfare and youth organisation work. Only through stable infrastructures can associations secure educational programmes, qualify volunteers, facilitate international encounters and provide long-term support for young people. Nationwide structures are the "backbone structures" that enable local groups to work and guarantee democratic self-organisation. If funds from the KJP are not used to support these central structures, the associations will lack the basis to cope with rising personnel and material costs, additional political tasks or the consequences of multiple crises. This is effectively tantamount to cuts and directly affects young people.

Funding from the KJP for the central federal youth association organisations has a direct impact on young people: it stabilises the places where they meet, learn, make decisions and take on responsibility. These spaces cannot be replaced. A policy that does not pay enough attention to these structures prioritises wrongly, leaves young people on their own and risks reducing the structure of services and democratic engagement. This is a dangerous situation at a time of mental stress and increasing loneliness among young people, while at the same time the enemies of democracy are trying to win young people over to their extremist policies.

The most important funding instrument for child and youth welfare at federal level is the KJP. Just last year, the federal government's campaign "Deutschland hat 'nen Plan" (Germany has a plan), which was implemented by the federal central organisations in the KJP initiative, clearly demonstrated why support via the KJP is so crucial for young people and what services the organisations provide in this regard. The campaign made it clear that the organisations funded by the KJP - such as associations and specialist organisations - are responsible for nationwide coordination, training, research and networking. The campaign created key prerequisites that were intended to strengthen the KJP in the coalition agreement and, following on from this, to enable the funding organisations to be equipped in line with requirements. The political debate at the time was much more advanced than the current draft budget, which does not strengthen these organisations.

Especially now, after years of high inflation, considerable price increases and growing expectations of youth associations - for example with regard to all-day education or inclusive child and youth welfare - strengthening the federal infrastructure would have been urgently necessary. Instead, there is a threat of dismantling that will have an impact both nationally and internationally: fewer measures, less planning security, less accessibility for young people.

Youth organisations provide democratic education, social orientation, inclusion and international understanding. They bear responsibility for dealing with the social and mental stresses young people face and for supporting social transformation processes. All of this is only possible with reliable basic funding.

The Bundesjugendring expects the Bundestag and the Federal Government to make adjustments. An effective youth policy needs strong structures that support children and young people in their commitment and provide long-term support.