Transport, unemployment and poor health are some of the negative points of the social diagnosis
The lack of transport links to other islands, unemployment and health, are some of the “preliminary” results of the social diagnosis of the island, presented by the Brava City Council, in partnership with the technician from the Portuguese municipality of Oeiras.
The presentation of this diagnosis was made this Wednesday in the main hall of the city council, where the municipality's technician stated that the results are not formal, taking into account that the official document is not yet ready.
In an interview with Inforpress, the technician from the Portuguese city council São Tavares highlighted that the poor quality of drinking water and the lack of leisure activities for young people, children and the elderly, mainly in the area of sports and culture, are also part of the diagnosis.
“At this moment I only carried out a survey, in addition to the interviews carried out and also the group work, participated by local institutions, involving several locations on Brava Island and people from different structures and professions. With this, I already have a characterization and a synthesis”, he informed, highlighting that the content analysis is being worked on for the final diagnosis.
According to the same source, two projects have already been developed, one for mni-handball, which covers three schools in different locations, namely a school in Nova Sintra, Nossa Senhora do Monte and Furna.
“Approximately 140 third and fourth year children are expected to participate. The other project, which has already started, is music classes and we formalized the Brava artistic school with three local teachers and everything was done with the participation of the residents”, he highlighted.
As explained by this person, the entire elaboration of the diagnosis was done in participation, involving the community with scientific documents to have a better response to the diagnosis.
“If there wasn’t partnership work and involvement of all people and local institutions it would be very difficult. The diagnosis had to be made together and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire population of Brava and their dedication, professionalism, and their volunteers who attended the five meetings held”, he thanked.
He also added that around thirty interviews were also carried out, involving approximately 60 people.
In turn, the president of Brava City Council, Francisco Tavares, highlighted that this project is also designed for a more “assertive, effective and efficient” action on the part of the municipality's social action.
“Halfway through the journey, we saw the need to carry out an exhaustive elaboration of the social diagnosis, and then, through it, the elaboration of the action plan in the different areas and, thus, leading to the definition of concrete activities. With this, we have a path outlined to provide effective and assertive responses within all social issues within the chamber’s competence”, he assured.
The mayor considered that the main idea is to respond to the population that really needs social, municipal services and also to be able to bring together a social action network around the municipality with all possible partners, whether institutional or private Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), which doubles social action in some cases.
“We managed to have a definitive, concrete and most realistic final portrait of the vulnerability of existing social problems in Brava, which require intervention. And as we can see, two projects are already underway on the ground, as pilot work, one in the cultural area and the other in sport”, he highlighted.
Furthermore, he also reported that they also saw other areas, such as education, health and social action itself, and all the paths that are pointed out for activities that must be taken into consideration, so that ultimately they can have a good provision of social care.
“Here on the island, within the resources that are few, but if we manage better and through this data that we know the reality and we have all the organizations in one, network we will provide social responses and this, clearly, is a gain for the entire society of Brava. ”, he concluded.
