Description
This project will work with young people living within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, mostly immigrant descendants with relatives from Portuguese-speaking African countries, aged between 15 and 24 years, who often do not study or work, have low skills and lack a well-structured life project. It will promote the required skills for actively seeking employment and towards reintegration through education and/or training. This project will develop a pilot approach in a classroom environment, based on the cultural and sporting competences existing within the community, and of reference for the students, fostering greater proximity between the school and the community and highlighting examples which are a reference for students and lead to added value to their school curriculum. Youngsters’ cultural, artistic and sporting talents will be recognized and validated, soft skills will be developed and talent and entrepreneurial skills will be discovered, through learning in the workplace. Civic participation of young people in their communities will also be fostered.
Summary of project results
Young people represent more than 50% of the population in the disadvantaged suburban areas of Metropolitan Lisbon. They are mainly 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants, with parents from the former Portuguese colonies in Africa, aged between 15 and 24. Unemployed, do not study and do not work, have low school / professional qualifications and lack motivation / interest in returning to the education system. They are vulnerable young people who, in the absence of more structured life projects, adopt deviant behaviours. In addition to unemployment, they lack basic soft skills, crucial to access the labour market. Those who are still studying are students with repeated retention, attend alternative courses, with school failure rates around 25%. Little motivated for mainstream activities they often opt for lifestyles that generate social exclusion. The project tries, through non formal education and training, to explore and transform their dreams, knowledge, ideas and creativity into options for the future. 84 vulnerable young people were thus trained on employability and 12 (of 17 participants) got the certified competences to be deemed as trained on entrepreneurship. 24 of these young adults have now found a job and are employed; 20 have moved to formal education or formal training activities; 7 young people were hired by the project itself. 562 youngsters have been involved in the project and therefore participated in social, cultural and educational inclusion. The initial targets were surpassed with the exception of young people trained on entrepreneurship (30 was the target). The promoter reports that the methodology experimented under this project is now being used in other projects promoted by the NGO and co-funded by the Government. It was the first project implemented by the promoter targeting exclusively young people and this has added significant experience and knowledge on this target group.
Summary of bilateral results