Children and young people are the future. And they are also the present. That is why it is especially important to respond to their needs for the fair, inclusive, and lasting development of society.

In 2013, a collaboration between CODESPA and Barcelona City Council began to promote the inclusion of children and young people from the most vulnerable neighborhoods of Tetouan and to strengthen the city’s Urban Commune in its work with them. To this end, we have also had the support of our local partner, ATIL. And, between December 2020 and November 2022, a further phase of this collaboration was carried out.

In the poorest neighborhoods of the city of Tetouan, the school dropout rate is very high, and few young people complete their studies. Many come from broken families and very precarious economic situations. In the case of young women, for cultural reasons, they must stay home helping with chores, so they have even fewer opportunities than young men to support themselves.

In this context, the CODESPA and Barcelona City Council project has encouraged 300 young people experiencing social exclusion from neighborhoods in Tetouan to participate in sociocultural activities. The goal is to help them integrate into their community and ultimately lead, alongside neighborhood organizations, the promotion of activities aimed at them.

To this end, a series of workshops have been held in cultural centers in the Tetuán Commune, such as libraries and sports centers. In these safe environments, these young people’s basic needs have been met, they have participated in sports and cultural activities, and they have received training to strengthen their skills and develop as individuals. They have also learned global citizenship values for good neighborhood coexistence. Some examples include the “Citizen Initiative and Participatory Leadership” workshops attended by young people; the holding of a Children’s Forum under the theme “A Conscious, Creative Child Who Belongs to Their Neighborhood”; organizing women’s handball matches to give girls access to recreational sports; or holding sessions with young people to explain how they can take advantage of everything local libraries have to offer.

The work and involvement of the selected civil society organizations has been essential to achieving the objectives of this project. Their leaders have also received training on topics such as preventing school dropouts, promoting the rights of women and people with disabilities, and providing young people with sports and cultural activities, prioritizing those in vulnerable situations. Specifically, the following have been trained:

• 20 technicians from the Tetouan Urban Commune’s Social Action and Socio-Cultural and Sports Animation Division were trained to conduct these inclusive workshops at the facilities they manage.
• 12 representatives of civil society organizations received training in the inclusion and transmission of democratic values and human rights through socio-cultural and sports activities.
•  

The results of this project have encouraged the participation of 300 vulnerable young people in local politics in their city, alongside representatives from the Tetuán Commune and civil society organizations, with the goal of strengthening the local associative fabric toward a more inclusive and participatory model.