Voar para a Autonomia

The “Voar para a Autonomia” (Flying towards Independence) project, run by Plataforma PAJE – Apoio a Jovens (Ex)Acolhidos – Associação (Support Platform for Young Care Leavers), is funded by the EEA Grants and promoted by the consortium of the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and the Fundação Bissaya Barreto, as part of the Cidadãos Ativ@s (Active Citizens) Programme.

The project is coordinated by PAJE and has 6 partners: SCM Portalegre, SCM Porto, SCM Vagos, CPJ – Casa da Estrela, CAF Pinto de Carvalho and CSP Recardães.

Project objectives:

The main objectives of the project are to deliver socio-educational programmes to young people in residential care:

– To raise young people’s awareness of the importance of preparing for life after care, increasing their emotional autonomy.

– To develop the skills needed for the transition to adult life, outside care.

– To provide a real-life experience, temporarily placing young people in an environment and situation similar to that of independent living, outside the residential care home.

– To enable young people, after the experience, to define a strategy and a life plan that is achievable in the short and long term, particularly for when they leave the home.

– To build the capacity of the promoting organisation’s volunteers, for organisational improvement.

The project has been designed and implemented in line with cross-cutting principles of institutional collaboration, capacity building, communication and empowerment, with the purpose of promoting autonomy in the development of socio-emotional, professional and personal pathways towards the social inclusion of young people in residential care.

The main project activities are:

Stage 1 – Work in residential care homes with young people preparing for independent living, raising their awareness of life after care, fostering self-knowledge to lessen the shock of the transition and promoting successful inclusion as active citizens. Specific psycho-educational materials developed by PAJE will be used, together with problem-solving strategies that may be useful to them in their daily lives, and decision-making training.

Stage 2 – To offer adolescents and young people in residential care a day in Coimbra with the PAJE team. The aim is for these young people to experience a different kind of day, outside the care setting. Over the course of one day, young people from two different residential care homes will take part in socio-educational activities, such as visits to the Universidade de Coimbra, the Museu Machado de Castro and the Exploratório. During the day there will be time for group activities, discussion and the sharing of experiences among the young people. These activities will lead to self-reflection and to the development of the young people’s self-confidence.

Stage 3 – To guide young people in residential care who travel to Coimbra and are placed in an environment and situation similar to those of independent living, so as to raise their awareness of life outside the residential care home while testing their independent-living skills. Being completely removed from the physical and practical support of the residential care home will create a simulated reality, awakening feelings and emotions that will alert them and may lead them to postpone a premature, hasty and irreversible decision – leaving the residential care home. At the end of the week, the young person should be able to understand how they feel about their life plan, forming ideas that are not unrealistic but achievable, and making the most of the opportunity to change course.

Start of phase 1, 16 March 2022