Last Friday (4/11), the Young People's Defenders project was officially launched, an initiative that aims to train 1,000 young people from working-class communities and territories throughout Brazil to work in the defense of rights and the promotion of citizenship. The event took place on the campus of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), marking the start of the first module of training for young people from the state of Rio.
The project is the result of a partnership between the Secretariat for Access to Justice (Saju), of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP), the National Youth Secretariat (SNJ) and Fiocruz, with execution by Fiotec. The action is concentrated in the municipalities covered by the National Program for Public Security with Citizenship (Pronasci), covering the Federal District and the states of Pará, Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
With a focus on promoting human rights and social inclusion, the initiative seeks to strengthen the civic-political engagement of young people through training in topics such as public policies, social research, territorial diagnosis and direct action in communities. Young people aged between 18 and 29, mainly from the favelas, peripheries and traditional communities, will receive a monthly grant of BRL 500 to take part in the training.
During the launch, Fiotec's People Manager, Raquel Raad, highlighted the project's alignment with the foundation's values: "Fiotec, within its values, embraces projects of a social nature, being directly linked to diversity and inclusion, especially this one, which is aimed at training young people from communities. We encourage them to be agents of change in their area, promoting citizenship through knowledge of human rights."
Fiotec acts in the administrative execution of the project, making the resources available and ensuring that the defined goals are met: "the project is underway. We are the party that guides and administers the resource, within what the Procedures Manual (Fiotec/Fiocruz) allows. The main objective of Fiotec's Project Execution area is to make all the necessary demands for the performance of the project feasible. In this phase, we will carry out the work plan respecting the scope, budget, deadline, premises and restrictions required by the funding agents, ensuring that the project's results are achieved," explained Andreia Rios, Fiotec's Project Analyst.
Representing Fiocruz, executive director Juliano Lima emphasized the initiative's alignment with the institution's principles: "Fiocruz is participating with great enthusiasm in this project to train young people's defenders, together with the Ministry of Justice, because of Fiocruz's defense of health as a universal right and its construction based on the articulation of various public policies that impact on people's well-being and quality of life. And this project has everything to do with this perspective focused on young people, who are also a priority in the work of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation."
The event also included a performance by the slam group and poetry battle Nós da Rua and the first class of the Rio de Janeiro classes. The training offered to young people includes content on civil, political, social, economic, cultural and environmental rights, as well as practices of popular education, activism and political advocacy.
> Find out more about the project here.