The project Shaping Futures: Youth livelihood options in creating inclusive cities focuses on young people´s requests for improved livelihood options in their own urban contexts. It is a partnership between CIESPI/PUC-Rio, the University of Edinburgh, Scotland and Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action and the National Institute for Urban Affairs in Mumbai and New Delhi, India. The project is a collaboration between youth activists in Brazil and India to promote youth development and participation in public policy.

The Brazilian youth participants are members of the Youth Forum of South Fluminense in Action (FJSFA-VR) from the industrial city of Volta Redonda in the state of Rio de Janeiro. CIESPI staff meet regularly online with the young people from FJSFA to explore ways and support the youth to participate in public debates and decision-making events that affect their lives. So far, young people from the FJSFA have been engaged with the Children’s Rights Municipal Council in Volta Redonda, the Municipal Secretariat for Economic Development and Tourism, the Beatriz Gama Foundation which provides services for at-risk youth, the non-profit Center for the Integration of School and Work which provides internships and apprenticeships for young people and other key actors in the field of youth participation in the job market.

One of the products from Volta Redonda is a Tik Tok video showing the benefits of the Federal Youth Apprenticeship Program (Joven Aprendiz). The video was produced for Tik Tok, starring Gustavo Gomes and scripted by Gabriel Bergone. The Program constitutes one of the main initiatives of the Brazilian government to connect and include young people in the job market. The program is supported by the Apprenticeship Law (10.097/00), which establishes that all medium and large companies must include in their workforce young people aged between 14 and 24, in a special employment contract, offering apprenticeship and paid professional experience.

Click here to watch the TikTok video.