Build development from Benedita
Background
Barafunda, AJCSS (Youth Association of Culture and Social Solidarity) is a non-profit non governmental organization with over 35 years of experience in social inclusion, community intervention, training and education (including formal, non-formal and informal education).
Barafunda was born in 1982 as a project linked to the dramatic arts: a group of united and cohesive secondary school students launched themselves into the world of theater with the staging of plays and the promotion of dramatic representation courses.
In 1989, it extends to organizing activities with children from disadvantaged socioeconomic groups, from the Primary Prevention Project (supported by the Vida Project) in partnership with a local entities.
In 1997, it was recognized as a Private Institution for Social Solidarity, with the status of public utility, and as a part of RNAJ (National Register of Youth Associations).
Also in 1997, our Work and Training Academy was accredited as a training entity by the IQF (Institute for Quality in Training).
From 2002 to 2005 promoted the Project “Creation” within the framework of the Municipal Plan of Primary Prevention of Drug Addiction of the IDT – Institute of Drugs and Drug Addiction.
More than 35 years later, the Barafunda Association is the result of a dream that aimed to address the shortcomings of the school, in the context of the formation of young people, filling society’s problems and contributing to their personal construction through expression.
Since then it has developed a wide range of activities with children, youth and adults.
Mission and Objectives
Barafunda mission is promoting the social, economic and cultural well-being of the most deprived population as well as promoting the cultural, social and economic development of the region, contributing to increasing people’s competitiveness by improving and creating services adapted to market demands.
Activities
The association is organized into two action poles, namely the Training and Development Pole, which includes the Qualification Center and the Work and Training Academy, and the Children and Youth Pole, which includes the Youth Center and the After-school recreation Program. Together they offer an integrative response, translated into several projects, allowing residents of the municipality of Alcobaça and surrounding areas to have greater opportunities for professional and personal development, which are reflected in the sustainability and development of the region. As part of its activities, within the systemic view of analyzing the problems of territorial development, it promotes various actions in the field of (In) Training, Education, Sociocultural Animation and Social and Community Intervention. Thus, it usually develops very diverse activities ranging from the creation and development of leisure activities to the completion of certified vocational training courses, through the production of studies and opinions on the labor market in the region. It also seeks to hold meetings and debates of a cultural, socio-educational and formative nature, with the publication of books and other print media of the most innovative seminars in theoretical terms or proposals for action.
