Description

Josival Santos lives in Bahia, one of the largest states in northern Brazil. Committed to his community and ultimately his country, Josival serves in the National Committee of MJPOP (Youth Monitoring Public Policies). This initiative is the contextualization of an advocacy methodology known as Citizen Voice and Action (CVA), which aims at improving the relationship between citizens and local government.

Below, Josival shares about his experience and his hopes for the future.

“In Bahia, World Vision Brazil has implemented three Area Development Programmes (ADP), and all of them used to work with the youth with the focus in arts and other cultural activities, which encouraged the creation of the program EreREDE (Network of Adolescents and Young People from the ADPs). The goal was to act in a more unified way in order to impact the community more effectively. However, the youth from EreREDE did not have a methodology upon which to base their work and achieve their objectives.

In eight months with MJPOP, Bahia has seen significant actions, learning experiences and achievements. At first, two Working Groups were legitimized. From there, these groups were able to identify policies and services that needed to be monitored, received necessary training, and then took the methodology to their communities. During that same time, they performed a quick diagnostic survey utilizing interviews at schools and at the local health clinic.

Also, mobilized by our manager Marcia Nova, UOPE (Operational Unit) in Salvador invited the ADP Santa Luzia and the partner ACOPAMEC (a community based organization) to engage in this process, which entails creating working groups and implementing the methodology. The group JDC (Youth Developing the Community) put together a local gathering focused on the methodology, with the objective of recruiting more young people from other communities to form groups.

After the introduction of MJPOP, groups acquired a tool that enabled them to organize themselves and thus contribute in a tangible way to the development of communities. This has brought a very positive effect: people were getting to know the youth, who gained prestige and respect from the community. Experiencing the stages and steps of the MJPOP process allows youth to increase their knowledge and to reflect about their positions and attitudes. We consider both the engagement and enthusiasm of young people to be a part of the monitoring process as well as the support from communities as achievements at this initial stage in the journey.

Today, there are four youth groups working with the MJPOP methodology. One of them is still in the preparation process, and the other three are building the plan of action for the improvement of communities. Our dream and hope is that youth from Bahia, through MJPOP, make a difference in the lives of communities in this wonderful land.”