The project is coordinated by the University of Edinburgh and includes partners in Brazil (CIESPI/PUC-Rio) and in India (Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), Fields of View (FoV) e National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA). The project aims at stimulating youth participation and protagonism in the processes of elaboration, implementation and monitoring of public policies, particularly focused on livelihood and work inclusion. In Brazil, the project has been carried out under the coordination of Irene Rizzini and has as its main partner the Youth Forum of Sul Fluminense in Action (FJSFA), active in the city of Volta Redonda, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. We asked the youth to share with us their own experience on the theme and here is the result:
Youth and Protagonism: responses to the dilemmas of the 21st century
Youth Forum of South Fluminense in Action
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Children and young people have played a fundamental role in transforming citizenship and democracy over the decades. In the redemocratization of Brazil, students and student associations established their importance when they won the right to vote from the age of 16. The 1988 constitution also foreseens a series of rights in defense of education, comprehensive protection and social justice.
Social participation and the protagonism of citizens in the public sphere are not restricted to budgetary practices and neither to voting polls. Volta Redonda, for example, has a history which begins at the time of redemocratization when social movements such as the Ethical Movement in Politics (MEP/VR)[1] , a non-governmental institution that provided social services, and the Ecclesiastical Base Communities[2] played a fundamental role in establishing an organized civil society, mobilizing people in favor of strengthening and instrumentalizing the mechanisms of control and social participation, in order to guarantee and perpetuate such protagonism.
One such case is the Children’s Rights Council, which in its history is formed by the mobilization of mothers, women and human rights entities. After a year of the promulgation of the Statute on the Child and the Adolescent - a federal law that replaced the previous Code of Minors, it established that children and adolescents are also subject of rights. The same organized civil society pressured the public sectors to create the Council, which constitutes a public space where civil society through organizations and the government, discuss public policies in addition to inspecting and supervising policies aimed at children and adolescents. According to article 7 of the Municipal Law nº 4866 of the Volta Redonda City Council, “the Children’s Rights Council (CMDCA), linked to the Municipal Government Secretariat, is a deliberative and fiscal body responsible for the rights and actions aimed for children and adolescents at all levels ensuring equal popular participation through representative organizations” (VOLTA REDONDA, 2012). This is considered one of the most advanced legislation in terms of the role, participation and monitoring of sectoral councils in Brazil. In three decades of activity this council has gained much visibility for advancing in several areas both in participation and in policy-making.
Considered by law as the final decision-making body on any policy for children and adolescents in the city, the CMDCA has the power to veto a law that stipulates any policy for children and adolescents considered irregular. After all, who better to deal with politics for children and adolescents if not the sectoral council itself? The council is a reference in protagonism since it is the first council to hold a seat for its audience, including the right to speak and vote, as well as two seats for children and adolescents to act as counselors, elected in their own forum.
The 1st Free Conference on the Rights of Children and Adolescents of Volta Redonda took place in October 2011. The conference stimulated the interest of adolescents for knowing more about the subject. They were invited to participate in a meeting promoted by the State Forum Youth in Action at the NGO Se Essa Rua Fosse Minha in Rio de Janeiro. During that meeting we addressed the theme “Adolescents and Youth in Confronting Sexual Violence in the State of Rio de Janeiro. The adolescents who participated at the event held an evaluation meeting afterwards and realized that Volta Redonda also had many rights violations and that we needed to discuss about children and adolescents of the South region of the State. In the end of 2011, the Youth Forum South Fluminense in Action was created and in the following year it was approved an amendment to the Law of the Municipal Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents, as well as the stipulation of two seats for child and adolescent counselors. It was decided that these counselors would be elected among members from their own forum. From then on, the Forum participates in different activities, seminars and conferences that involve the rights of children and adolescentes. Through a joint partnership with the Children’s Rights Council the Forum disseminates the Statute (ECA) in lectures at schools, Social Assistance Reference Centers (CRAS) and entities that work with children and adolescents. It is a space for children and adolescents to discuss public policies together. Our intention is to provide an environment where children, adolescents and young people can get together and express themselves freely. A forum built by us to freely, and in a organized form, debate relevant issues concerning our daily lives, in the light of public policies and rights guaranteed by law.
In this sense, the replacement of rigid and traditional social practices is a continuous process for society in general. The aim is to overcome dogmas and prejudices that states that children and adolescents cannot think for themselves or understand their needs or have no time or voice. The truth is that they know their problems like nobody else, as well as alternatives to overcome them. To this end, they must be included in public spaces for discussion and formulation of public policies and become protagonists in its formulation and implementation. As well as become an integral part of the decision-making processes throughout all stages. As a direct result of social mobilization Volta Redonda became a pioneer and a model to several others. This forum not only elects but also organizes municipal conferences on the rights of children and adolescents through an invitation of the council itself. Among many other examples, we have been invited to organize conferences at the state level and even Latin American and Caribbean meetings that are part of the Latin American and Caribbean Network for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (REDLAMYC)[3] , which enabled the formulation of a regional policy proposal for the countries that are part of the network. In addition to surveys that involved FJSFA members to identify public problems pertinent to the region, such as the perceptions of violence in the city of Volta Redonda. In 2014 that participation enabled the establishment of new paths and dialogues among members of society, including protagonism and participation of children and young people. Our slogan is: "Don't talk about me without me, talk about me with me!"
Achievements and advances are brought about by an organized civil society, which has found a favorable environment for the debate of ideas to flourish, in addition to freedom and opportunity for participation and protagonism. Naturally there are difficulties and barriers, both in the State level and by its agents because in order to expand autonomy and create more spaces for collective decision-making processes, the other side needs to share its power and authority, which is an arduous and complex process that requires willingness. In addition, we have traditional social practices that removes the individual from his role as citizen in society and in relation to the State.
Currently through partnerships and projects with academic partners we have advanced in the process of formulation of quality public policies that are modern, efficient and consistent with the context of children and youth population. One example is direct participation during the entire process of elaborating the Children and Adolescent Municipal Plan for Volta Redonda, in which guidelines and actions were stipulated to influence public actions. It is the combination of praxis and theoretical knowledge that can finally transform public policies and governmental actions in favor of a more just society. Just as youths have been agents of transformations for the future, the 21st century indicates that it does not settle or cower with change. On the contrary, it plans, builds and directs its transformative vision towards the future it seeks. We are a network that is interconnected, cohesive and has one voice that forces the old political classes and the entire inert and paralyzed society to wake up and push toward changes, as seen in the case of environmental activist Greta Thunberg, or the youth movements in Latin America. From one end to the other they are advancing and deepening the transformations in the old structures of authoritarian, vertical and bureaucratic politics. To the point of even managing to convene a constituent assembly to revoke the old, dictatorial, historically imposed constitution in Chile or to renew policies as is the case of Peru, among so many other examples. Youth transformation force is like a leafy tree, which pierces the hardened and static concrete with its roots and breaks it from the inside out, establishing itself and strengthening its base, which consists of solidarity, haughtiness, disposition, principles and values inherent to democracy. Meanwhile, it rises and overcome the barriers of inequality, misery and poverty, towards the sky, free from the bonds imposed by old practices. Today, that strength flourishes to branch out and spread its fruit everywhere through disseminating justice, renewal, solidarity, participation, protagonism and transformation, towards a better society and humanity.
The Youth Forum of South Fluminense in Action constitutes a branch of this fruitful tree with a sweet taste of social participation and protagonism of children and young people. In the current project, developed in partnership with CIESPI (The International Center for Research and Policy on Childhood) at PUC-Rio University and our international partners[4]
[1] Ethics in Politics Movement is an association non-partisan, inter-religious, non-profit and non-discriminatory on the basis of religious creed, nationality, ethnicity or economic condition. It stands for morality, transparency and ethics for allocating public resources. MEP also offers education to society through the Citizen Pre-Vestibular. The priority focuses are socio-political, socio-educational and socio-environmental areas (MEP/VR, 2020).
[2] According to CPDOC/FGV (2020) the Basic Ecclesial Communities (CEBs) are organizations of the Catholic Church that are characterized by: (a) Sunday celebration held by secular men and women; (b) Broad participation in decision-making, usually through assemblies; and (c) Link between biblical reflection and action in society.
[3] Latin American and Caribbean Network for the Rights of Boys, Girls and Adolescents (REDLAMYC), represented through Human Rights Mexico and headquartered in the network's Latin American and Caribbean Office (Mexico City, Mexico). It is a Network of National Networks of NGOs for children and adolescents whose common ground is that they belong to one of the countries that make up the Latin American and Caribbean Region and that have joined together to actively participate in the defense of the rights of children, girls and adolescents, under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
[4] The project Shaping futures: youth livelihood options in creating inclusive cities has been coordinated by the university of Edinburgh, in Scotland and partners from different organizations in India.
References:
CPDOC/FGV. Centro de Pesquisa e Documentação de História Contemporânea do Brasil. COMUNIDADES ECLESIAIS DE BASE (CEBs). 2020. Disponível em: http://www.fgv.br/cpdoc/acervo/dicionarios/verbete-tematico/comunidades-eclesiais-de-base-cebs. Acesso em: 29/12/2020
MEP/VR. Movimento Ética na Política. 2020. Disponível em: https://mepvr.com.br/. Acesso em: 29/12/2020.
VOLTA REDONDA. Lei Municipal nº 4.866 de 03/04/2012. Disponível em:https://sapl.voltaredonda.rj.leg.br/media/sapl/public/normajuridica/2012/2553/2553_texto_integral.pdf. Acesso em: 30/12/2020.
REDLAMYC. Red Latinoamericana y Caribeña por la defensa de los derechos de los niños, niñas y adolescentes. 2021. Disponível em: http://redlamyc.org/v1/. Acesso em 01/03/2021.
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