“Making Commitments Matter” in Brazil

I was part of the team who led the historical process of assessing, mapping and evaluating national youth policies in Brazil based on the United Nation’s Toolkit “Making Commitments Matter – a guide for young people to evaluate the national youth policy”.

The process, called in Brazil “Tirando Acordos do Papel” (“Making Commitments Matter” in Portuguese) was coordinated by the youth organisation “Grupo Interagir”, who led a national coalition of youth-led organisations from all around the country.

The process was a unique opportunity to map, assess and evaluate the status of youth policies across the country, and translate the findings into evidence-based policy recommendations that were presented to the Brazilian government. The process was also an opportunity to identify good practices and create benchmarks regarding youth policy development that allowed us to track progress and keep the government accountable years later.

Some of the recommendations included the need for more comprehensive National Youth Policies and a call for the establishment of an inter-ministerial secretariat dedicated to youth, both implemented by the government later that year.

The report was presented to the national government in 22 April 2005, in Brasilia and submitted to the United Nations General Assembly.

You can download the Brazilian report in portuguese and in english.