The countries:

Portugal

Definition of youth : youth policy concerns the age group between 15 and 25/30 years of age.

Responsabilities : Portugal has a Ministry that is responsible for Youth, Sports and Drug Misuse (Secretaria de estado da Juventude). Within this Ministry, there are two state secretariats in charge of youth and sports respectively. The " Drug Misuse " programme is run entirely by this Ministry.
In all, there are 7 governmental bodies dealing with youth issues. These are: the Consultative Youth Council (CCJ), the Office for the Organisation and Support of Research (GAEP), the Portuguese Youth Institute (IPJ), the Foundation for the Dissemination of Information Technologies(FDTI), Youth Tourism (Movijoven), the Civil Service Office for Conscientious Objectors (GSCOC) and lastly, the Permanent Observatory of Youth (OPJ).
The Portuguese Youth Institute is the main body behind the implementation of central government youth policy. Its main role is to coordinate the policy and to do so, it works hand in hard with the other youth organisations.
The other responsibilities of the Institute are to:
- fund and provide technical backing for youth projects,
- encourage youth participation in European community and international organisations,
- design and create programmes that promote the interests of young people.
The Portuguese Youth Institute is run via a joint management system, by means of an Operational Committee and a Executive Commission.
The Operational Committee approves the budget and the project plan for the year. It also follows up on Institute projects, puts forward proposals, suggestions and recommendations. The President of the Operational Committee is also the President of the Executive Commission of the Institute. The Institute is made up of State appointed representatives and 3 representatives from non-governmental youth organisations such as the National Youth Committee, national youth organisations and local and regional organisations. The Operational Committee meets 3 times a month or whenever at least half the members request a meeting.
The Consultative Commission consists of the state appointed President, who is assisted by two advisors. The Commission is responsible for running the Institute and its members are appointed for three year terms.
The Institute is divided into Departments, which are in charge of specific areas such as information, backup for voluntary organisations, programmes, facilities and amenities, image and marketing, information technologies and administrative functions and finances.
The Institute is also represented regionally in each Portuguese District, with a total of 18 delegations. Each delegation is presided by a delegate who is responsible for the coordination and implementation of the directives from the Portuguese Youth Institute in his/her region.

Priorities : one of the top priorities of the Portuguese government in terms of youth policy is to encourage young people to participate more in the social and political life of the country and to thus facilitate their social and economic integration into society. One of the means used to further this end is to include young people in the decision-making process. In practical terms, this is done in two ways:
- via the implementation of an inter-sectorial policy of cooperation with other Ministries and, given that young people have different potentials and needs, by the development of a vertical policy to promote active participation, the freedom to create, open and accessible information; this requires recognising that young people are fully-fledged citizens and real drivers of social and cultural change. The policy defined above is implemented thanks to a series of mechanisms and strategies that aim to: - improve communication links with young people - support and encourage the capacity of young people to take decisions - promote exchanges and cooperation projects with and for young people - sustain the fight against drug misuse- support and promote leisure activities.

State Secretariat for Youth - Ministry of Youth, Sports and Drug Misuse
Rua Professor Gomes Texeira
P-1399-022 LISBONNE
Tel.: + 35 1 213 92 79 41
Fax: + 35 1 213 97 83 36
juventud@mail.telepac.pt
www.sej.pt