Pilar Damião wants Youth Observatory to "provide support" to the definition and management of sector policies
The Regional Director for Youth defended today in Ponta Delgada that the Azores Youth Observatory (OJA) should "provide support" to the definition and management of sector policies, based on strategic guidelines, with goals and measures intended to "strengthen Azorean youngsters and empower them to overcome new challenges."
Speaking at the opening of the symposium "Dilemas e Desafios da(s) Juventude(s) no Século XXI" (Dilemmas and Challenges of Youth in the 21st Century), Pilar Damião considered this initiative as "a space for reflection and debate." The event is organised by the Regional Directorate for Youth in Partnership with the University of the Azores under the Azores Youth Observatory.
In this context, the government official pointed out that this event is intended to "analyse issues, provide contributions and find the answers we constantly seek for the dilemmas and challenges that are part of the everyday life of Azorean youngsters."
"In addition to promoting the dissemination of updated information of interest to youngsters, the Youth Observatory will also provide support to the definition and management of policies, based on strategic guidelines, with goals and measures intended "to strengthen Azorean youngsters and empower them to overcome new challenges," stated the Regional Director.
The Azores Youth Observatory covers the following research areas: associations and social and political participation; education, training and labour market; identity, culture and values; socialisation and family life; territories and mobility.
The conference held today in Ponta Delgada was attended by experts on the areas of Youth, including José Regalado, director of the National Agency of the Youth in Action Programme, Filipe Brum, Regional Deputy Director for Employment and Vocational Training, and Rolando Lalanda Gonçalves, assistant professor at the University of the Azores and executive coordinator of OJA.
Furthermore, the event was attended by José Machado Pais, coordinator researcher at the Social Sciences Institute of Universidade Nova de Lisboa and visiting professor at ISCTE (University Institute of Lisbon), Ilona Kovacs, full professor at ISEG (Higher Institute of Economics and Management) and Vani Baldi, assistant professor at the University of Aveiro.
The Internet page of the Azores Youth Observatory was presented during the symposium; it is created with the purpose of disseminating information and the works developed under OJA. This page can be found at the following address: http://observatoriodajuventude.azores.gov.pt/.