At the inauguration of the Young Voices encounter in Brazil, the National Youth Secretary, Beto Cury, argued that priority should be assigned to the country’s policies for youth.
“We shall not enjoy a more decent future, unless Brazil’s public administrators at this moment treat youth policy with the scope it demands,” the secretary observed.
Cury explained that, in formulating the National Youth Policy, presented at the beginning of 2005, the federal government identified nine challenges based on the major problems experienced by this segment of the population:
1. Increase young people’s access to and years spent in school; 2. erradicate illiteracy among young people; 3. prepare them for the workplace; 4. create jobs and income for youth; 5. encourage a healthy life-style;
6. democratize access to sports, leisure, culture, and information technology; 7. promote human rights and affirmative action; 8. stimulate citizenship and social participation; 9. improve the quality of life of rural youth and traditional communities.
For Wellington Santos, representative of the National Confederation of Rural Workers’ (Contag) National Commission of Young Rural Workers, the problem with youth policies stems from the very definition of the age bracket classified as youthful.
Santos contends that youth policies need to integrate youth from rural and urban environments.
Translation: David Silberstein
ABr