CRJPS – Coletivo Regional Juventude e Participação Social

Juventude Construindo Caminhos, Trilhando uma História – a Experiência dos Coletivos de Jovens

Youth and public policy in the semiarid of Bahia

CRJPS was created in 2004 to train and mobilize young leaders as activists for public policies affecting youth in the semiarid “sisal” region of Bahia, an area in Brazil calling for grassroots activism to to uphold rights. With support from BrazilFoundation in 2009, CRJPS helped pass several amendments in the city budget concerning policies on sports, culture, education and income generation for youth.

Because of CRJPS many young people have secured positions in different social, private and government entities. The project’s objective is to support knowledge sharing between these young leaders through technical training in sociopolitics for 13 youth collectives in the semiarid of Bahia.

IMPACT

With support from BrazilFoundation, the project will:

• Hold regional workshops for 65 youths to help the collectives mobilize and grow in size by 35%;
• Advocate for more effective public policies concerning youth of the semiarid;
• Increase the number of participants in collectives by 35%, to strengthen the collective’s “multiplier effect;”
• Directly benefit 65 youths between the ages of 16 and 29;
• Produce a booklet on methods used by collectives on grassroots activism.

“We grew greatly in the past years with the rise of young leaders holding positions at different levels in the social, private and public sectors.” – CRJPS team