Project to enhance youth employability in adverse circumstances wins RENs AGIR Award

Project “Leaders Gang” by Mentes Empreendedoras is the big winner of REN’s AGIR Award, whose tenth edition is dedicated to the promotion of sustainable development. Established in 2022, this nationwide project provides training to young adults, enhancing their employability and encouraging them to share this knowledge with secondary school students in the regions where they studied.

Rural Move – Associação para a Promoção do Investimento em Territórios de Baixa Densidade [Association for the Promotion of Investment in Low-Density Territories], based in Miranda do Douro, came in second place, thanks to the “Academia de Líderes Rurais” [Rural Leaders Academy].

Mértola Heritage Defence Association was third with the project “Desenvolvimento Sustentável do Montado – capitalização dos SIGM” [Sustainable Development of the Montado – capitalisation of the SIGM].

“Leaders Gang”, developed in partnership with the Ministry of Education, begins by identifying higher education students who have excelled in their academic journey during secondary education. The project connects them with inspiring figures, provides transformative experiences, and offers training in skills such as leadership, communication, and problem-solving.

The aim is for project participants to encourage students from schools in the regions where they grew up to create solutions for community problems, thereby contributing to their increased social involvement. In its first edition, the project reached 100 university students, mostly women, who visited 44 schools in 14 districts, inspiring and impacting approximately 1,500 students.

Mentes Empreendedoras, which aims to promote an attitude of "I want! I can! I do!", hopes that the long-term outcome of this programme will be Portugal having more female leadership and leadership from more diverse backgrounds. Among the participants in the pilot experience, 65% of the group were female, and 19% came from inland regions – 58% came from the North, 23.5% from Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, 8.7% from the Centre, 6% from the Alentejo, and 3.5% from the Algarve.

According to Ana Moreira, from Mentes Empreendedoras, "We count on the support of REN’s AGIR award, and our goal is clear: to create a generation of impactful citizens, leaders capable of transforming themselves and their communities. The award enables us to move forward with the second edition of Leaders Gang, increase visibility, and consolidate the project. We will invest in individual mentoring and training of participants and introduce the aspect of promoting mental health".

Rural Move – Associação para a Promoção do Investimento em Territórios de Baixa Densidade, based in Miranda do Douro, aims to encourage investment and repopulation of rural areas. Through the "Academia de Líderes Rurais", Rural Move will train and empower local residents and those who want to live, work, or invest in rural territories – the Rural Movers.

The target audience of this project includes young people aged between 15 and 29 who are not studying, not employed, nor undergoing any form of training, as well as local entities and new residents of rural territories in the Médio Tejo region. Supported by the municipalities of Mação, Tomar, Alcanena, Sardoal, and Torres Novas, the project will provide practical training to candidates in areas such as entrepreneurship, innovation, communication, and use of digital tools. It will also delve deeper into other areas that are necessary responses to the reality of each locality. The aim is to create a network of local leaders, empowered to lead sustainable development initiatives in their communities, facilitating settlement in rural areas and empowering communities to drive their own development.

According to Luísa Ribeiro, from Rural Move, "REN’s AGIR award will provide us with more resources for the implementation of the Academy project and to work more closely with the communities and localities where it will be developed. It's another step towards breaking the vicious cycle of devaluation and depopulation in rural areas, creating new opportunities to make these territories more attractive".

Third place in the AGIR Award was presented to the project “Desenvolvimento Sustentável do Montado – capitalização dos SIGM” by the Mértola Heritage Defence Association, aiming to encourage the conservation of the Montado [Cork Oak Woodland], a habitat classified and protected by the European Union and one of the most emblematic landscapes of the Mediterranean, but also one of the most threatened. The conservation status of the Montado has been assessed as inadequate in Portugal, with an estimated decrease of 5,500 hectares per year.

The project aims to reverse this decline through the sharing of information and the capitalisation of the decision support tool SIGM [Integrated Management System of the Montado]. The expectation is that the project will empower producers and technicians to contribute to the protection of the Montado, encouraging socioeconomic development, conserving biodiversity, and increasing the services provided by this ecosystem, such as carbon sequestration. The project will include training and awareness sessions on best practices for Montado conservation, aiming to reach approximately 200 landowners, and the establishment of a network of demonstrative Montados showcasing adaptations to climate change.

According to Ricardo Vieira, from the Mértola Heritage Defence Association, an environmental NGO established in 1980 aiming to reconcile the conservation of natural resources with the development of rural territories, the recognition in the tenth edition of the AGIR award "will contribute to the improvement of Montado conservation through knowledge dissemination, cooperation, and multi-actor innovation".

The 2024 AGIR Award will be dedicated to the Support and Inclusion of People Experiencing Homelessness. Studies on this phenomenon show that the typical profile of a person experiencing homelessness is becoming increasingly diverse, requiring a broader range of responses from civil society. The selection of this topic for the AGIR Award demonstrates REN's recognition that this is an increasingly pressing challenge. The number of people experiencing homelessness has increased by 78% since 2019, according to data from the Portuguese National Strategy for the Integration of Homeless People, released in 2023.

Discover here all the winning projects of this year's edition and previous years.

The 2024 AGIR Award will be dedicated to the Support and Inclusion of People Experiencing Homelessness, marking the 10th anniversary of the launch of this award.

The studies on this phenomenon show that the typical profile of a person experiencing homelessness is becoming increasingly varied, necessitating a greater diversity of responses from civil society.

The choice of this topic for the AGIR Award theme demonstrates REN's recognition that this is an increasingly pressing challenge, given that the number of people experiencing homelessness has increased by 78% since 2019, according to data from the National Strategy for the Integration of People Experiencing Homelessness, released in 2023.

The AGIR Award falls within REN's policy of engagement with the Community and Social Innovation. Annually, the AGIR Award selects an area of social intervention and distinguishes three projects.

The selection of the top three projects is the responsibility of REN, in partnership with STONE SOUP, which oversees and monitors the use of funds donated to each supported project, also assessing the real social impact of the aid provided. The first-place winner is granted a monetary prize of thirty thousand euros, the second-place fifteen thousand euros, and the third-place five thousand euros.