By Naomi Yakawich

Six-hundred youth and community, NGO, and government leaders gathered in Goiás, Brazil for the State Meeting of Youth and Municipal Managers on August 17.

In Goiás, Global Peace Foundation (GPF) is working with local government and community leaders to strengthen youth education and involvement in their families and communities. State Superintendent of Youth, Leonardo Felipe, attended the meeting and described the government’s public policies to assist youth, including university scholarships which allowed for more than 150,000 students to graduate.

“Today, young people need to have hopes, dreams, and have an ideal in order to strengthen the vision of a better world.” — Massimo Trombin

Obtaining these scholarships can be challenging said UEG’s dean, Haroldo Heimer. “There are opportunities! But for you to get there, you have to focus on your dream. You have to know that for you to get somewhere else, in this case, in a public university, you have to do things in your day to day to achieve that goal. Just like those who practice sports: they have to have conditioning.”

With the support of organizations like GPF Brazil young people are developing the skills and inspiration to pursue higher education.

Massimo Trombin, CEO of GPF Brazil, highlighted the importance of youth empowerment as a factor in social transformation in the world.

“This event is extremely important in the context of youth empowerment. Today young people need to have hopes, dreams, and have an ideal in order to strengthen the vision of a better world. I think the young man in Brazil needs to believe in himself, that he has the future in his hands. Young people today, if prepared, if they invest, if they have values, if informed, will have the possibility to create a better world, a better country. But it is necessary to take responsibility, to have a broad and responsible view of life, as to its function in society. The message is very simple: the young man and woman must be active in society. In the world, the last five years have been marked by changes made by young people.”

Other meetings take place by region to allow organizations, schools, and associations to exchange successful strategies and the opportunity to better understand the challenges, public policies, and youth perspectives within their specific region.

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