The Vila Nova de Famalicão City Council was recognized with the Municipal Stamp of Youth, in the II National Meeting of Youth-Friendly Municipalities, which took place on May 19th, in the Casa da Arquitetura in Matosinhos. The Youth councillor, Luísa Azevedo, who also subscribed, on behalf of the City Council, to the INOVE Jovem pact, received the distinction, awarded by the National Federation of Youth Associations (FNAJ) to the municipalities that stood out in the implementation of policies in favour of youth.
In this meeting, the City Council of Famalicão renewed its commitment to quality and youth-friendly local policies, ensuring the maintenance in the National Network of Youth-Friendly Municipalities, of which it has been part since its creation at the end of 2020.
The continuity of this presence in the national network has been ensured thanks to municipal initiatives developed, such as: Municipal Youth Council, Municipal Youth Plan, direct support to youth associativism, policies to support youth initiative, investment plan directed to the youth sector, among others.
The subscription of the INOVE Youth Pact, the first pact for youth policies in Portugal, built on the Madeira 2021 Declaration, in the scope of the Atlantic Association and Youth Summit, which took place in the city of Funchal in November 2021, was also signed on 19 May by the municipalities that make up the national network. It is a pact that aims to establish a commitment between the Local and Central State, based on the FNAJ's political position that local youth policies should be complementary to national policies, not overlapping them, thus avoiding waste of efforts, resources and energies.
The National Network of Youth-Friendly Municipalities of the FNAJ has as its main objective the sharing of good practices, the creation of strategies and the promotion of associative and municipal synergies. It is an important network in the design, implementation and evaluation of structuring and sustainable local youth policies, through a permanent and articulated dialogue with local youth.
