bOJA is the centre of competence for Open Youth Work in Austria. The association is the service and networking agency for Open Youth Work in Austria as well as the expert office for quality development in Open Youth Work. It represents Open Youth Work at a national and international level.

• Service: Information, counselling, support, further education
• Co-ordination and networking of people, organisations, projects and topics
• Quality and Open Youth Work: quality reflection, quality discussion, quality development
• Positioning and lobbying (for example in working groups, networking bodies, at talks, in the form of expert contributions and in public discourse)

Target groups

• Open Youth Work organisations in Austria
• Youth workers active in the field of Open Youth Work
• People active in politics and administration with an advisory role on questions on Open Youth Work

• Provincial youth departments in Austria
• International Open Youth Work organisations
• Organisations from related fields / People active in related (social) fields
• People active in science and research

• Open Youth Work organisations in Austria
• Youth workers active in the field of Open Youth Work
• People active in politics and administration

bOJA as a mouthpiece for Open Youth Work and topics of interest for young people

• People, organisations and areas connected with all aspects of youth work
• People active in politics and administration
• General public

bOJA is the mouthpiece for the area of Open Youth Work – with the objective of positioning the topics, perspectives and needs of Open Youth Work and the young people who use its services in the national and international youth political discourse.

Participation as attitude and method

bOJA's attitude, services and methods take their lead from the needs, desires and expectations of its members and persons active in Open Youth Work and result from the interaction with partners.
Information and knowledge gained for the national Open Youth Work network by means of participation contribute to:

• its strategic orientation
• its contents and sub-objectives
• its services and actions

Kinds of participation

Member participation:

1. direct member participation (with direct effect on the strategic orientation):
   General assembly, managing committee, possibly conferences, working groups
2. member support (with service orientation including information and counselling):
   Concerns, topics and needs of youth workers and young people as well as expectations for the association are gathered from direct contact (face to face, by phone, digitally or by "word of mouth") and guidelines and positions for the association are worked out.

Non-member participation of organisations and people active in Open Youth Work

Background: there are approximately a thousand organisations, initiatives and project groups in Austria which can be subsumed under Open Youth Work in a broader sense. However, it is not the objective of the national network to put the emphasis on association memberships but to offer services to those organisations and projects which want to call on them and include also topics and challenges of non-members in the strategic planning:

• Information, support and assistance (with service orientation):
  Concerns, topics and needs of youth workers and young people as well as expectations for the association and for a positioning of their work in a national context are gathered from direct contact (face to face, by phone, digitally or by "word of mouth") and guidelines and positions for the association are worked out.

Partner participation

1. Open Youth Work working group at the committee of the heads of the provincial youth departments:
   meeting and direct contact
2. Provincial youth departments:
   direct contact, working groups and other networking bodies
3. Ministry:
   direct contact, working groups and other networking bodies
4. Other Partners:
   direct contact, working groups and other networking bodies

Concerns, topics and needs and expectations of the partners of the association as well as attitudes on relevant youth topics are perceived and integrated in the work of the association.