ESC: Behind the Scenes

YUPI - Association for Social and Community Development, existing since 2008, has as its mission to motivate, raise awareness, develop and empower young people in the community, resulting in an effective instrument for active participation and citizenship. YUPI's objectives are to promote youth mobility for diversified learning purposes; to encourage active participation and committed citizenship in young people; to use non-formal education as a tool for skills development and to encourage youth volunteering. In pursuit of its objectives YUPI has carried out numerous projects of local volunteering (Time4U - Volunteering and Youth Active Participation Exchange) and international volunteering (EVS - European Voluntary Service/ESC – European Solidarity Corps), international exchanges and training, development and recognition of non-formal education at national and international level and its integration into school contexts, support to initiatives of groups of young people for local community development, among others. YUPI is an NGO of 300 members under 30 years old with strong motivations to actively participate in civil society and cooperate with our local community and extends our activities to a European dimension. The four main dimensions of YUPI's work are: 1) Active participation and citizenship; 2) Volunteering in thecommunity; 3) Mobility in Europe; 4) Skills development in non-formal education. The mission of our organization is to motivate and empower young people in the community, functioning as an effective tool for active participation and citizenship. YUPI is a youth organization founded in 2008 from a former informal group. It was created with the support of the National Youth Institute and is now recognized and accredited as a youth organization. We are also accredited by the National Agency for Youth in Action Program to host, send and coordinate the organization for ESC action since 2010. We have been recognized several times in our projects for our best practices with youth outreach (in 2009 for our youth exchange in the field of social inclusion, in 2010 for our best practices in transnational youth initiatives in volunteering, and in 2011 for our best practices at the national level on youth participation and empowerment, all recognized by the National Agency for the Youth in Action Program). We received the Municipal Recognition for Innovation in Community Work 2 times (2017 and 2018) for projects related to youth volunteering and promoting active participation and entrepreneurship in young people. YUPI received the award for Good Practices in Youth Organizations given by the National Institute for Youth and Sports in 2017 and 2019 for projects related to the education human rights program and the development of cooperation with schools for the implementation of school participatory budget.