In December 2022 professor Irene Rizzini, Director of CIESPI/PUC-Rio and Maria Cristina Bó, executive coordinator, along with Lucas Almeida and Gustavo Gomes from the Youth Forum South Fluminense in Action (FJSFA), traveled to India to attend two events: Youth Futures Knowledge Exchange Symposium in the city of Bombay and the International Conference on Youth Engagement for Creating Inclusive Cities in New Delhi.
The Youth Futures Knowledge Exchange Symposium took place at the Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA) training center. YUVA is a Mumbai-based non-profit organization that has been working for the past 38 years to empower individuals from marginalized communities to stand up for their rights. The Symposium aimed to present the international research carried out by youth from India and Brazil and the experiences of youth activism in South Asia and South America. It also showcased YUVA’s model of youth participation and activism. During the event it was held several cultural activities and the participation of young people was significant.
The International Conference on Youth Engagement for Creating Inclusive Cities took place at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, bringing together the same young people from India and Brazil as well as experts from India and neighboring countries - Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. The objective was to reflect on processes, methods and tools adopted in youth engagement projects, on livelihood opportunities for youth in urban contexts as well as on youth participation with the aim of creating inclusive cities. It should be highlighted that the participation of young people was noteworthy.
Both events are related to the final stage of the project Shaping Youth Futures: Livelihood Options in Creating Inclusive Cities. The project is coordinated by Sukanya Krishnamurthy from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) in partnership with the International Center for Research and Policy on Childhood (CIESPI) in association with PUC-Rio (Brazil) and Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), Fields of View (FoV) and National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), from India. The project was funded by the British Academy Youth Futures Program with the support from the Global Challenges Research Fund (United Kingdom), Reference: YF\19004. The project also received subsidies from CAPES-PRINT (Brazil), Public notice n. 41/2017.
Prior to both events, the first international seminar organized as part of the project was called Youth in Action in the Creation of Inclusive Cities. It was arranged by the CIESPI team and held in Rio de Janeiro in May 2022. The seminar brought together researchers and youth researchers from Brazil and India and experts from Mexico and Argentina, among other countries. The main objectives were to discuss and analyse themes related to youth rights and participation and share theoretical-methodological knowledge and experiences.