Youth policy is a fundamental area for the development of an inclusive, participatory and dynamic society. Young people are the future, but also the present, and that is why they have deserved special attention from the
Tinajo City Council, which has demonstrated, during the legislature that is now culminating, a firm and constant commitment to the youth of the municipality, promoting various actions and programs that have favored their training,
employability, leisure and well-being.
In this sense, I believe that the management of the youth sector in Tinajo has been an example of commitment, innovation and participation. This is demonstrated by the different policies and measures that have been implemented from the Department of Youth, with the aim of promoting the well-being and development of children and adolescents in the municipality.
But one of the great strengths of our management has been to involve the young people of the municipality in decision-making by actively listening to their opinions, demands and proposals on issues that affect them, counting for them with three very important tools.
Our young people demand that they be listened to and that what they have to say be taken into account, that they be given the prominence that such an important sector of society deserves. Not in vain, the future depends on our young people, many of whom will be our next rulers and we must give them the tools that allow them to lead that exciting challenge.
The first of these is the Tinajo Comprehensive Childhood and Adolescence Plan (PIIAT), a project that is based on the Tinajo Strategic Participation Plan (PEDEPAT) and that has the collaboration of different sectors and institutions to give voice and prominence to the youngest, listening to their opinions, needs and interests, and offering them educational, cultural, sports and leisure activities that favor their personal and social growth.
Another of the relevant actions has been the creation of a participation body for children and adolescents and has approved a comprehensive plan to promote public policies related to this sector of the population that has become an open and flexible tool that seeks to improve the living conditions and well-being of our young people.
In addition, Tinajo has developed the Diagnosis on Childhood and Adolescence of the Municipality of Tinajo, a study that collects the responses of more than five hundred young people who have expressed their concerns and proposals on various issues to improve the quality of life of this important population group, promoting their participation, their teamwork and their community organization. A work that has alerted us to the great relevance of the mental health of the young people of Tinajo, since it affects their well-being, their development and their future and that has also been affected by the health pandemic that has altered their routines, limited their leisure and learning opportunities, and generated uncertainty and fear.
Faced with this panorama, it is necessary to promote, protect and care for the mental health of young people from a comprehensive and multidisciplinary perspective. For this reason, we have incorporated a psychologist for direct treatment with students in both Primary and Secondary Education. Only in this way can the right of young people to a full and healthy life be guaranteed.
For all these reasons, I believe that the youth policy promoted by the Tinajo City Council during the past legislature has been an example of good management, closeness and sensitivity towards the needs and interests of this important
sector of society. It has been a comprehensive, transversal and coherent policy, which has taken into account the different dimensions that make up the youth reality. Without a doubt, it is a model to follow and consolidate in the
future that will be complemented by an ambitious infrastructure that will soon be a reality that will be located in the El Calvario park, which we have called "Youth Space" and which will be the home of the young people of Tinajo, a multidisciplinary venue aimed at the youth public and focused on learning, developing and enjoying alternative, artistic and creative disciplines.
If we add to all this that we allocate 2.6% of the municipal budgets to the Youth area, it is evident that Tinajo is a municipality that is committed to its young people as an active and transforming agent of society, that recognizes their rights and duties, that respects their diversity and that enhances their capacities and talents. For all this, we can affirm that the management of the youth sector in Tinajo has been positive and successful, and the response of the population to it shows us that it has been recognized and valued by the citizens.
Vianney Rodríguez is Councilor for Youth of the Tinajo City Council for the Canarian Coalition