Really valued

change our Brazil”

For Francisco Alves Quirino, 16, author of the verses above, poetry is just one way he found to express himself. With strong political convictions and a great desire to positively impact the country in which he lives, Francisco collects participation in initiatives that aim to give voice to adolescents and young people who, like him, have a lot to say. “The spaces we have to express ourselves are still so rare. We need to value and use those few that exist. That's why I make this my biggest fight,” she says.

Adolescents are part of the Center for Adolescent Citizenship (NUCA), one of the actions of the approved UNICEF Municipal Seal. NUCA's purpose is to articulate adolescents to change the places where they are inserted, through training and transformation activities.

Francisco, a resident of Afogados da Ingazeira, in the Pernambuco hinterland, met NUCA at the age of 13, but this was not his first endeavor in youth activism. “I helped create the Grêmio in the three schools where I studied,” she says, highlighting the importance she has always attached to the mobilization and participation of adolescents in public issues.

Francisco believes that doing politics is a way of guaranteeing the representation of youth in decision-making spheres. This engaged profile caught the attention of a school teacher, who ended up recommending the boy to participate in the NUCA, who was still being born in the municipality. After participating in the training, he jumped headfirst into the cause. “What delighted me most was to see that we are heard,” says Francisco, who fits the tasks of NUCA — as a leader in his region — the internship at the city hall in the morning, his studies at the Federal Institute of Pernambuco (IFPE) in the afternoon, his participation in the advisory council of the U-Report (a UNICEF initiative aimed at giving voice to adolescents and young people) and an extension project for which he is a scholarship holder.

Among the actions, he has organized several campaigns in schools, such as to warn about school dropout and about health, and research on the conditions of education in the municipality. “We surveyed educational institutions in the countryside that didn't have water or toilets. We shared the data with UNICEF and, today, this was reversed,” she says.

But, for Francisco, the greatest benefit of the initiative is to strengthen youth and legitimize them as agents of social transformation. “NUCA was the first space where I felt truly valued. I went to conferences in other states, I was able to talk and hear about the problems that affect us. Influenced by him, I want to pursue a political career to continue representing the youth,” the boy says enthusiastically.

The first steps have already been taken: Francisco wrote a bill to create a National Student Conference, part of a bill of the Chamber of Deputies called Deputado Mirim, when he was still 13 years old. He also placed second in a contest to elect the national representative in the Mercosur Youth Parliament in 2016. “After NUCA, my political background intensified. I am a young person who is more aware of my rights and duties as a citizen, of the laws, and of how to engage people. This awareness needs to be developed in more and more young people, because it is the only way to change our city, our state, and our country. I feel that it is my duty to bring them closer to politics, because the less involved we are, the less represented we are,” she says.

Poetry continues parallel to the boy's life, with the same militant function as his other projects. “I make sextilles, which are six-verse poems, and tenths, tenths. Sudden ones, sung unexpectedly, are very common in our region. Those who don't know how to sing, like me, write,” says Francisco. The text that opens this text talks about the importance of giving young people a voice. “I believe that only by listening to the youth, can we change and advance, in any domain”, he concludes.