The Regional Director for Youth, Bruno Pacheco, visited on Friday afternoon a group of youngsters from Romania, Sweden and Hungary, who are participating in an exchange project in the Azores, under the Youth in Action programme, designated as “ISA – Inclusão através da Arte,” (ISA – Inclusion through Art).

The project, which will be developed in partnership with the Tobacco Free Youth Association, Solidaried’arte Youth Association and the Bernardo da Silveira Estrela House, aims to encourage them to acquire social and professionals skills in order to promote their full integration in the community; use art as part of the youth experience to encourage the creation of life projects; use art as an intervention strategy addressed at underprivileged youngsters to foster the development of musical/cultural/personal/social skills; promote the dialogue and reflection on the European culture based on the principles  equality, cultural diversity , equity, entrepreneurship, and tolerance.

Speaking to youngsters, Bruno Pacheco said that “it should be noted the fact that the Azores are increasingly involved in projects that do are not limited to structural funds, such as the project PYE - Promoting Youth Employment, which is developed in partnership with the Assembly of European Regions and supported by the EU Progress programme.”

“PYE - Promoting Youth Employment” is a project implemented by four European regions, Krapina-Zagorje (Croatia), Azores (Portugal), Hampshire (UK) and Vojvodina (Serbia) and it is based on the principle of face-to-face learning.

This project will provide an opportunity for 4 partner regions to improve their policies on youth employment, based on exchange of good practices. Each visit is intended to identify strengths and weaknesses in employment policies for youngsters from the region and make specific recommendations to improve its development.

The Regional for Youth Director for Youth said that by 2009, the allocation of funds for European projects was less than € 50,000.00 a year. In the last two years, the average rose to € 76,000.00. “All of this is the result of a strategy outlined by the Azorean Government in 2009, which was divided into two phases: increase the number of youngsters participating in European projects and, secondly, promote the organisation of projects in the Azores, stressed Bruno Pacheco.