The conference "Think Global, Act Local", led by Ana Fernandes, president of the Socialist Youth of Marco de Canaveses, took place on 8th October, at the Municipal Auditorium Professor Emília Monteiro. This is the first initiative resulting from her voluntary experience in Mozambique, together with 3 other elements of Portuguese youth parties, which was provided to them by AIDGLOBAL, under the project "Jovens na Política — Participar para a Cidadania Global" (Youth in Politics - Participate for a Global Citizenship).
On their return, AIDGLOBAL challenged these volunteers to carry out initiatives, in Portugal, aimed at sharing their new view of the world, to which this experience has greatly contributed.
The event addressed issues such as Cooperation and Education for Development, Sustainable Development Goals and Volunteering, and culminated with the presentation of a Manifesto prepared by militants of the council's structure, which brings together a set of measures and political actions to be implemented in the Municipality of Marco de Canaveses, based on the topics discussed at the meeting.
With a total of 25 participants, the following speakers brightened up a relevant debate around the themes presented in the Manifesto: Local Councillor for Equality, Elsa Correia, Town Councillor of Marco de Canaveses, Clara Marques, Mayor of Vila Boa do Bispo, Miguel Carneiro, and the AIDGLOBAL Projects Technician, Maria Pacheco.
Bruno Gonçalves, Secretary-General of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY), Rúben de Matos, Vice-President of the Federation of Socialist Youth of Castelo Branco, Miguel Rodrigues, President of the Federation of Porto, and Cristina Vieira, Mayor of Marco de Canaveses, enriched the session.
The event provided an opportunity for sharing learning and empowerment in favour of a more sustainable policy, based on the principles and themes around Education for Development and Global Citizenship.
It is worth highlighting the remarkable testimony of Ana Fernandes who referred how her volunteering experience shaped a new way of thinking the world as a young activist of a political party, in addition to the need to think more sustainable and global policies, with transformative power, at local and global level.
The conference was part of the project "Jovens na Política — Participar para a Cidadania Global, (2ª Edição)" (Youth in Politics - Participate for Global Citizenship (2nd Edition)", which has been developed in Portugal since 2020 and will end in November this year, funded by Camões - Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, I.P., and has as its target audience the Youth Political Parties, young people interested in politics, young people from associations and Youth Technicians. This project is promoted by AIDGLOBAL and has as partners the Conselho Nacional da Juventude (National Youth Council) (CNJ), Federação Nacional das Associações Juvenis (National Federation of Youth Associations) (FNAJ), Dypall Network, ISCTE Center for International Studies, Instituto Português do Desporto e Juventude (IPDJ), Lisbon Youth Centre (CJL), and the Municipality of Santarém, and is supported by Mypolis.
