Serra Rovira, Jordi

Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert

T H E  YOUTH P O L I C I E S  
O F  T H E  G E N E R A L I T A T  
D E  C A T A L U N Y A  
THE AIMS OF THE YOUTH POLICY FOLLOWED IN CATALONIA ARE 
TO PROGRESS TOWARDS PARTICIPATION, TO ENERGIZE THE WORLD 
OF YOUNG PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY AND TO IMPROVE 
THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF OUR YOUTH. 
J O R D l  S E R R A  R O V I R A  S E C R E T A R Y  G E N E R A L  F O R  Y O U T H  
1 D O S S I E R  1 
uth policy in Catalonia i s  promo- 
ted by the General Secretariat for 
Youth, a body at present forming ff 
part of the Department of the Presidency. 
Although it originates in one particular de- 
partrnent -the Catalan Government is  or- 
ganised in 14 departments or conselleries-, 
one of the chief characteristics of the youth 
policy is  in fact its interdepartmental na- 
ture. 
The Government's action for youth takes 
into account those aspects that interest 
and affect the life of young people. This 
i s  why we say that when the Councillor 
for Work proposes measures to reduce 
unemployment he i s  shaping youth poli- 
cies, and when the Councillor for Territo- 
rial Policy and Public Works proposes 
subventions to home buyers he i s  also 
shaping youth policies, and the same 
goes for the Councillor for Health when 
he organises campaigns to prevent AlDS 
or unwanted pregnancies, and the Coun- 
cillor for Agriculture with tax measures to 
facilitate the inheritance of land from par- 
ents to children. There are plenty of 
other examples we could give as regards 
teaching, training, culture, the environ- 
ment, tourism, consumer affairs, etc. In 
other words, youth policy is, first of all, 
an action involving every department in 
the Generalitat and, at the same time, an 
action in need of co-ordination and plan- 
ning to satisfy a single, coherent and de- 
termined wish to serve young people glo- 
bally and efficiently. 
The President of the Generalitat often 
says that politics is, at heart, pedagogy. 
This idea, in the context of youth policy 
itself, takes on a special significance. 
Youth politics responds to a profound 
educational vocation and sets out to pro- 
mote, involve, transform, construct and 
create. Youth policy, as an educational 
action, also requires a frame of refer- 
ente that defines a particular view of the in- 
dividual and society. Let me therefore out- 
line the ideas that give a meaning to the 
different actions we want to carry out: 
We want to back a society that i s  parti- 
cipative, creative and committed. We are 
more interested in working with young 
people than for young people, because 
we want them to design and create their 
own projects. We shall continue to back 
the strengthening of young people's as- 
sociational life. 
We want to back training. We are not 
simply offering a range of services. We 
want to go further and make youth policy 
an educational action. We need well-pre- 
pared men and women able to adapt to 
constant transformation. 
We want to back young people capable 
o f  renovation and social dynamism. 
Young people will design -are already 
designing- the society of tomorrow on the 
basis of their critica1 and innovative ca- 
pacity and their potential for proposing 
1 D O S S I E R  ( 
and testing new attitudes and new values. 
We want to back young people who will 
continue and develop the work o f  nation- 
a l  construction. Young people who will 
advance the proiect of national construc- 
tion, who know and love the country they 
live in and its people and, at the sarne 
time, who have an open-minded and res- 
pectful attitude to other cultures. 
We want to back values that already exist 
around us. Young people prepared and 
trained, dynarnic, free and increasingly 
cornrnitted, critica1 and creative, keen to 
excel thernselves and attentive also to 
their environrnent, contributing to the 
construction and cohesion of the country 
and the society, to the general well-being 
and, especially, the well-being of those 
most in need.' 
We want to open up channels and plat- 
forrns for debate to perrnanently observe 
and analyse the reality of  Catalonia's 
youth. Understanding young people's re- 
ality i s  an essential requisite for directing 
any action airned at young ~ e o ~ l e .  
Having defined the type of youth we want 
and are working for, let me describe the 
five rnain objectives presiding the actions 
we carry out: 
1. Support for and defence of  the youth 
association movement: Associationisrn 
has traditionally been widespread in Ca- 
talonia and we feel that the basis of a 
youth policy calls for close collaboration 
between the Governrnent and the civil so- 
ciety, represented in this case by youth 
associations and organisations. In fact, 
as we shall see in the next obiective, 
rnany of the rneasures considered in our 
youth policy are eventually put into prac- 
tice through the association rnovernent. 
2. The offer of a range of  services, in col- 
laboration with the association move- 
ment: We think it i s  irnportant to define 
and set out the basic services that rnust 
be rnade available to young people so as 
to guarantee their rights in different 
spheres of life -inforrnation, work, health, 
housing, training, etc.-, always under the 
principie of subsidiarity: that is, whatever 
the civil society can do should not be 
done by the public adrninistration. 
3. Study and debate on the subject of val- 
ues and young people: Understanding 
young people and the reality that sur- 
rounds and rnotivates thern are basic to 
the developrnent of actions airned at 
young people, both by the Governrnent 
and by associations and other education- 
al agents. 
4. Presence over the whole of  the terri- 
tory: In view of Catalonia's geographical 
characteristics and dernographic distri- 
D O S S I E R  1 
bution, care must be taken to avoid im- 
portant differences in opportunities and 
establish a territorially balanced system. 
In this respect, the existence of a local 
administration at the regional level (the 
comarques) helps decongest and decen- 
tralize services. In 1994, the comarques 
took over responsibility for youth matters 
delegated to them by the Generalitat. 
5. Development of an Interdepartmental 
Youth Plan: Amongst al1 the actions put 
into practice there i s  one that stands out 
as best representing the integrated con- 
cept we have given to youth policies and 
which has, at the same time, become an 
innovative instrument of work. This i s  the 
Interdepartmental Youth Plan. 
The Young Catalonia Interdepartmental 
Youth Plan i s  a key element in shaping 
youth policies in Catalonia. The first plan 
was put into operation over the 1993- 
--T c... *, 
1994 period, and following its evaluation 
the Government approved the current 
Young Catalonia Interdepartmental Youth 
Plan 1995-1 997. 
The Young Catalonia plan responds to 
the need to combine the actions of al1 the 
Generalitat departments in youth policies, 
putting forward a series of measures in 
the face of various situations in need of 
government action, in which young peo- 
ple are involved. 
In addition, the Young Catalonia Plan has 
made it possible to carry out educational 
action on what the Catalan Government 
does for young people. It has also been 
a cal1 for attention regarding the need to 
consider young people as a whole and, 
at the same time, has agglutinated a 
group of people round an idea and a 
project. 
The measures contained in the Plan are 
arranged under the following subjects: in- 
Formation and access to se~ices; energiz- 
ing local and regional youth policies; 
associationism; training, work and busi- 
ness creation; health and prevention; the 
environment; services to young people: 
leisure, culture, housing and instruments 
for social integration; attitudes and val- 
ues. National identity. 
The measures have been formulated and 
are carried out on the basis of contribu- 
tions by the different Generalitat bodies 
and the youth association movement it- 
self, by experts, opinion groups and 
young people themselves. 
The aim of the combined guidelines shap- 
ing youth policies in Catalonia is  to pro- 
gress towards participation, energize the 
world of young people throughout the 
country and to improve the quality of our 
young people's lives. ¤ 


The Youth Policies of the Generalitat de Catalunya

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Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert