the book of
GOOD PRACTICES
2017
CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 2 ABOUT US 3
YOUTH ASSOCIATIONS
GEOCLUBE | EYP PORTUGAL | XX ELEMENT PROJECT| IT GETS BETTER PORTUGAL | VO.U | ABRIGO SEGURO |ATSVL | BEST PORTO | CREFA (PROJETO CATAPULTA)
4 CONCLUSIONS | COORDINATORS | SUSANA COSTA AND LEA OLIVEIRA | RESEARCH | MIGLĖ NEVERDAUSKAITĖ, GABIJA KISIELIŪTĖ AND EMRE DEĞIRMENCI
INTRODUCTION
Federation of Youth Associations of Porto (FAJDP) is a non-governmental organization, founded in 1986. Its main mission is to represent the youth associations and interests of the youth to public and political authorities, as well as increase the participation of young people and promote the exchanging of the experience among associations at local, regional, national and international levels. Founded by a group of youth associations, the first representative structure of the local associative movement to emerge in Portugal, FAJDP has more than 90 affiliated associations and represents more than 25 thousand young people, directly and indirectly, involved in associative activities.
ABOUT US
''From the world to the house'' - European Voluntary Service project, which unites Lithuania, Portugal, and Turkey. The book of good practices is one of many initiatives, that are done by three volunteers - Gabija Kisieliūtė, Miglė Neverdauskaitė (Lithuania), and Emre Değirmenci (Turkey). The aim of this book is to present youth organizations in Porto and their initiatives that could be considered as a good practice to the community of associative youth. Organizations from various fields were interviewed about their events and projects, that they are most proud of. Hopefully, this will inspire people to be more involved in local, national or international actions, as well as organizations, will learn from each other and will improve their work.
GEOCLUBE Geoclube – a youth organization, founded in 1999 as a school club for outside activities in Gondomar. Main objectives of Geoclube changed throughout the years and today they are focusing not only on environmental issues and the importance of spending time in nature but also on local and international volunteering, youth participation, social inclusion, and quality of education. At the moment, Geoclube has two youth workers, a president, and 4 EVS volunteers, working towards their goal– promoting volunteering and non-formal education. In their opinion, the key to building a successful organization is learning from mistakes and clear communication between all the team members.
GOOD PRACTICES
1. Exhibition ‘‘Transformando a Juventude com o Erasmus+‘‘, that took place in December 2017. Main goal – to collect and show photos of various EVS experiences. 2. ‘‘Parents corner‘‘ – project, which focuses on helping parents to be actively involved in their children’s education. 3. ‘‘Stress-free teachers‘‘ – project, which focuses on teachers and their well-being in the working environment. 4. European Parliament visit in May 2018. For the purpose of educating youth about democracy and participation. 10 participants will get an opportunity to visit Portuguese member of European Parliament and learn everything about the functioning of EP, firsthand.
EYP PORTUGAL European Youth Parliament is an independent, educational organization, which started its work in 1987. At the moment, it is one of the largest European platforms for political debate, intercultural encounters, and education for young people in Europe. In Portugal, the EYP is represented by the Portuguese Association of the European Youth Parliament (APPEJ), which was founded in 1999. PEJ is organizing regional and national sessions, in which the participants can discuss their ideas freely and can be delegated to participate in the International European Youth Parliament sessions. It gives an opportunity for young people from Portugal to experience a variety of cultures around Europe, as well as deepen the knowledge about EU and its structures, and, of course, making international friends and memories.
GOOD PRACTICES
1. ‘‘Understanding Europe’’ project, which aims to educate youngsters in schools about EU and its institutions, as well as promoting EYP and its goals. Trainers, involved in this project, are working with teenagers from 10th to 12th grade. 2. Working groups of EYP Portugal, which have different work specifics, such as fundraising, public image, coordination of projects. 3. PEJ itself is not covering the costs of delegates that are going to participate in the International EYP sessions, but they are encouraging and helping everyone to get support from schools and municipalities.
XX element project XX Element project – cultural association, founded in 2016 with the aim of promoting the cultural enrichment of the population in general, civic, and social activities, with a special focus on the subject of empowering women and promoting gender equality. At the moment, XX Element project is organizing monthly movie nights and getting ready for PORTO FEMME, the first International Women’s Film Festival in Portugal, which will take place in May 2018. XX Element project is not only focusing on filmmakers but on painters, photographers, sculptors as well. Their long-term goal is to create a reliable platform for Portuguese artists to be able to display their work, which encourages discussion and fights for equality and human rights through the art.
GOOD PRACTICES
1. Exhibition ‘’12 Apóstolas‘’ which took place in January 2018, at Palacete Viscondes de Balsemão. 12 female artists displayed their work for more than 600 visitors. 2. Monthly Femme sessions that take place on last Wednesday of every month in Maus Hábitos. In these events, various movies, made by female artists, are shown. 3. ‘’Porto Femme‘’ – an upcoming event that will start in 2018, May 30th and will be going until 3 rd of June. The film festival will include movies, made by international artists, debates, and an award for the best filmmaker. 4. XX Element project is planning to cooperate with schools and show the movies about topics, that have a big impact on children´s and teenager´s lives – bullying, gender equality, human rights etc.
It gets better Portugal It gets better – a project that started in 2010, United States of America, focusing on supportive content for LGBT+ community. It began as a social media campaign, which was providing hope and encouragement to young LGBT+ people and now it has evolved into a major multi-media campaign spread throughout the world in May 2018. In April 2012 It gets better started their work in Portugal as well, with the name ‘‘Tudo Vai Melhorar’’, which changed in 2017 as ‘‘It gets better Portugal’’. At the moment there are five people who help to manage all social media and its contents, as well as, organizing and attending various events and creating new projects.
GOOD PRACTICES
1. The debate about Porto and its LGBT+ population on IDAHOT (International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia). 2. 5th Anniversary Party, that took place in 2017, November, in Zoom Porto club. It was the first fundraiser for further It gets better activities. 3. Upcoming webseries for not only LGBT+ community, but for their families and friends. It will premiere in 2018. 4. "LGBT+ around the world" social media campaign, which will start in May and will show various stories, events, and milestones from all over the world.
VO.U VO.U (Associação de Voluntariado Universitårio) University Volunteer Association is a non-profit institution that helps students to experience their studies in a more fulfilling way, with not only studying and partying but with helping those in need. The organization started in 2008 when a group of students decided to enrich their free time. They started selling origami, with the aim of collecting some funds and established VO.U. Today, not only students can join this organization and participate in a variety of projects, such as helping elderly people, children, and animals, promoting health and wellbeing, as well as connecting with nature, by cleaning the forests and beaches. VO.U aims to encourage people to volunteer in a good spirit. That is why they organize a lot of teambuildings between the board and all of the members.
GOOD PRACTICES
1. Volunteers can always choose when and where to volunteer, depending on their free time. For example, they can visit one elderly person or a child once a week, check up on them and spend time together. 2. „Volunteer bank“ initiative, where everyone can upload their information and choose volunteering opportunity. At the moment, there are 2000 volunteers on this platform. 3. 3 plans – Plan Mundo (world), Plan Vive (life), Plan Ponto (bridge). All of them focuses on different things, such as cooperation with the worldwide volunteering ideas, promoting a healthy lifestyle and preserving nature, and helping lonely people, such as elders and children to spend quality time with volunteers.
ABRIGO SEGURO Abrigo Seguro is an Associação de Solidariedade Social (Social Solidarity Association). They are situated in Vila Nova de Gaia, Avintes and organize the activities for children from the area around. They are focused on decreasing social exclusion not only among children but also for the whole community. The associations’ motto is “work with everyone and for everyone”.
At the moment there are 9 workers, they also used to have volunteers from Moldova, Turkey, and Spain. It helped children to broaden their view and learn about cultural differences. They work a full year. During academic year they provide support for children with their studies, also organize free time activities. During summer their organize summer camp for children from all elementary schools in the region.
GOOD PRACTICES
1. Loja Social. Having agreements with clothes companies, they manage to help the poorest members of the community. The companies donate the new clothes with the minor defects. Those clothes are sold for symbolic prices in order to ensure that support reached the ones who really need it. Once a month they also collaborate with the food bank and help to distribute the food items. 2. The environment around the building is full of different activities and is wisely used with the focus on environmental education. There is a greenhouse, small botanical garden, where children learn about different plants and how to take care of them. In the workshop house, children learn how to make their own tools and how to work with the wood. There are also wall climbing activities, remote control panel and other places which are used to enrich children’s free time.
ATSVL ATSVL (Associação de Trabalho Social e Voluntário de Lavra ATSVL) is a Social Work and Volunteering Association situated in Lavra. The organization was founded in 1982 and consists of social workers and volunteers. The main goal of their work is to provide the help for people in need and to make a positive impact for all the community.
They organize activities for children, adults and for community members in overall, although the main focus is children. They are supported by IPDJ (Instituto Português do Desporto e Juventude), FAJDP (Federação das Associações Juvenis do Porto) and Câmara Municipal de Matosinhos.
GOOD PRACTICES
1. After school children get support for their studies and in the afternoons there are special activities for 3-17 years old children, where they attend dance workshops, such as hip-hop or ballet. Older children can go to martial arts and kickboxing. The main project is summer camp which is organized every year. Those activities have a low cost which makes it affordable for everyone. Every Saturday morning there is special art activities for 5-11 years old children, called Laboratรณrio de arts. 2. Community members (20 years old and older) can attend personal defense classes. Every year organization participates in local Carnival activities and Saint Juan celebration parade. On Sundays the local bike club gathers for the weekly trip around the surrounding area. There are no participation fee and all members of the community can participate.
BEST PORTO BEST Porto is a part of Board of European Students of Technology which consists of 95 local groups across Europe. As one of the local group, BEST Porto unites students from Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Sciences. BEST Porto creates the value and mutual benefits for all parties involved: students, companies, and universities. It focuses on providing students skills and knowledge that can be used after their studies and could make them more competitive in labor market.
The basic idea that BEST Porto wants to transfer is that students’ career does not have to be a linear path but collection of specific skills. There are no strict requirements in order to become the member; there are also no participation fee and almost all expenses are covered. BEST Porto financial sources are mainly coming from private companies.
GOOD PRACTICES
1. Summer school. It is an annual event that hosts around 20 technology students from all over Europe. The aim of this event is to provide participants new skills related to technology, career or practical applications. 2. Competitions. In European competition (EBEC) and local competition (SciTech) teams of students are provided specific cases or tasks which they have to solve using their technical, social and communication skills. 3. Career support. BEST members are eligible to upload their CVs in database and to have the opportunity to be selected for the work in BEST partners companies. BEST Porto organizes the event which is fully dedicated to companies. The companies are also invited to all the events that BEST Porto organizes. 4. Continuous evaluation of members’ needs and services are made. The results are used for providing the most relevant trainings and implementing the necessary changes.
CREFA (PROJETO CATAPULTA) Projeto Catapulta is the project of Centro Regional de Formação de Animadores (CREFA). It was started in 2013 with the main goal of promoting the social and educational inclusion of children and young people of the Historic Center of Porto. The activities are focused on supporting children, stimulating their critical thinking, youth participation and spreading awareness about the human rights. The activities are taking place in the Community building as well as in different schools around Porto. After the school children get support for their homework and participate in a variety of different free time activities, such as IT, debates about the human rights. Activities are based on active discussions, respect for children in order to teach them about the world and empower them to express their ideas. Children are also involved in activities creation and evaluation processes.
GOOD PRACTICES
1. Every month all the activities with children are based on the chosen topic. The topic for the next month is chosen together with children during Youth Assembly event. 2. Children can get the scores for participating in activities and showing positive behavior. It motivates to continue the behavior and encourage to be more active. The upcoming plan is to improve existing score system with Badges. 3. Every month there is an evaluation of the activities, and monitoring of progress that children achieved. Every 6 months there is also evaluation of the goals that were achieved and the ones that need to be corrected. 3. The upcoming plan is to make a Seminar where the good practices of the work with youth could be shared, also important issues about the government support, partnerships with universities and etc. discussed. The website about Catapulta activities is also launching soon.
Finally, we hope that this book will inspire people to become more actively involved and remind how many different possibilities to make a positive impact we have around us. Everything starts with the first step.
CONCLUSION
While having different objectives and practicing different activities, all organizations share the same purpose of creating a positive impact on the community, young people, and society. We believe that sharing experience with each other is the most direct path to success. We can learn from each other, be inspired or encouraged to implement new ideas in our own work.