CHAPTER THREE: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE environments of education, training, rehabilitation and prevention; organising permanent centres devoted to informing, communicating with and advising the youth; and, finally, promoting group sporting activities and competitions, and local leisure and entertainment activities. 347. Follow-up is assured by the Minister of Youth and Sports in conjunction with all sectors and stakeholders involved in promoting the youth. These activities are financed by the National Fund for the Promotion of Youth Initiatives and the Wilaya Fund for the Youth. Within the framework of the Growth Support Programme, DA60 000 million (about US$850 million) were allocated to the youth and sports sector between 2005 and 2009 in order to set up sociocultural and sporting infrastructures for the youth. Added to this are the Special Programme for the South and the Programme for the High Plateaux, totalling DA17 000 million (approximately US$220 million). 348. Algeria is thus devoting considerable attention to the phenomenon of juvenile delinquency, which is affecting an increasing number of youths, particularly those aged 16 to 18-years. This type of delinquency is rising, particularly so over the past ten years marked by the effects of the serious crisis experienced by the country. To remedy this social affliction, the state is assigning greater importance – in addition to measures to protect and preserve law and order – to the prevention and implementation of solutions calling for the collaboration of the various social and economic actors. 349. In assessing the efficacy of these measures against given trends in the general improvement of the situation of children and youth in Algeria over the past five years, the CSAR notes that significant progress has been recorded in the protection of children and youth. Portfolios on children and youth constitute a priority in the work carried out by public authorities in the various domains linked to health, education, juvenile delinquency and children in difficult circumstances. This work is increasingly being taken over by civil society organisations. Matters pertaining to children are also handled by a National Children‟s Committee, under whose authority reside seven bodies and national institutes that deal with children‟s issues. This committee contributes, among other things, to the assessment of the implementation of different legal texts and regulations relating to children, and also helps to prepare new texts when the need arises. 350. Based on the opinion survey carried out within the framework of the CSAR in January 2007, it emerged that the measures for integrating the youth were not seen to be positive. A strong majority of responses (43.7 per cent) emphasised their inadequacy and an equally large proportion (21.5 per cent) considered them to be highly inadequate. Only 1.7 per cent of the respondents considered the measures to be perfect, whereas 8 per cent felt they were sufficient. 115