Ongoing Projects and Activities

No âmbito do direito à informação e à participação, foram realizadas 157 sessões de apresentação de “Vila Verde, Amiga das Crianças” e da criação do GIF junto das crianças e jovens do Concelho. Estas sessões realizaram-se nas escolas – públicas e privadas -, abrangendo todas as turmas desde o jardim de infância ao ensino secundário e profissional. As crianças e jovens foram informadas do reconhecimento da UNICEF de Vila Verde no âmbito do Programa “Cidades Amigas das Crianças” e das áreas de intervenção desenhadas no seu Plano de Ação Local (PAL). A intenção de melhorar as práticas permanentes e efetivas de participação das crianças/jovens, começa por lhes dar a conhecer o resultado de um processo em que elas próprias já participaram, nomeadamente no diagnóstico da realidade infantojuvenil e na partilha de sugestões de ações, muitas delas integradas no PAL. Foi também uma forma de introduzir a intenção do Município de promover a sua participação sobre temáticas e em tomadas de decisão diversas.
No final das sessões foi oferecido a cada criança/jovem um autocolante ou um marcador de página com dois QR codes que permitissem aos pais aceder à informação acerca de Vila Verde Amiga das Crianças e do GIF.
Nestas sessões participaram 5566 crianças, pelo que foi possível alcançar igualmente as suas respetivas famílias.

The voting for the GIF logo has already been completed! Watch the video, made by two young people, to learn more:

Watch video click here.

A consultation is underway with children and young people from the public schools of the municipality to conduct a study on the level of satisfaction, safety, and adequacy (in terms of schedules and equipment) of school transport, involving students from the 5th to the 12th grade. The form for this purpose is being shared through the schools, but it can be accessed here:  link

During the Vila Verde, Child-Friendly Municipality presentation sessions held at EPATV and ESVV, young people were invited to share their views on the issues they believe the Municipal Council should consult them about. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with many valuable contributions received. Several young people also expressed their willingness to work more closely with the Municipal Council on the ideas and topics raised. You can find a summary of the young people’s contributions here.

What Young People in Vila Verde Want to Be Heard About… – Results

The “Super’A” Project (Super/Overcome Autism), which began in 2023 as a pilot project aimed at ensuring that children with autism spectrum disorders could benefit from individual mentoring at school, has grown in other dimensions: SUPER’A Self-Help Group for Parents, celebration of Autism Awareness Day, promotion of training, etc. This Project is part of the operational objective A11 of the PAL of “Vila Verde, Child-Friendly” and has been a very significant added value to the Council.

In very specific circumstances, when a child—particularly one under the age of six—temporarily requires care outside their biological family, every effort should be made to ensure that the child is placed with a foster family rather than in a residential care institution. This provides a far more natural, nurturing, and family-oriented environment for the child, while also offering a unique and deeply rewarding experience for the family providing care.
To make this possible, it is essential to have individuals and families who are willing and able to become foster carers.
If you would like to learn more about foster care, please consult the documents below or contact the organisation responsible for the training and support of foster families in Vila Verde using the following contact details:
Telephone: +351 253 408 533
Mobile: +351 913 355 463
Email: acolhimento.familiar@adcl.org.pt

One of the operational objectives of “Vila Verde, Child Friendly” is to ensure the implementation of at least one literacy activity for parents/caregivers on various topics, with nutrition being one of them. In this context, several activities are being carried out for parents in the municipality’s schools as part of the Municipal Project “School Meal Provision.” The aim is to provide parents and the entire educational community not only with better information on how the meal supply system is implemented in these schools, but also to raise awareness of basic concepts essential for healthy nutrition for the children and young people of the municipality.

In the 2023–2024 school year, a reading promotion activity was carried out in partnership with APPACDM, with the collaboration of the Professor Machado Vilela Municipal Library, based on the book “Histórias Comidas – Eu consigo!” by Emília Martins, who authored both the text and illustrations. This action falls under the Strategic Objective “Promote well-being and equal opportunities.”

Reading sessions of the book were held in various kindergartens and primary schools in Vila Verde, reaching a total of 2,561 children.

Some of the kindergarten sessions were conducted in partnership with a local APPACDM team (technicians – including the author – and users), allowing children to interact with adults with special needs, who demonstrated how it is possible to “read” the book by interpreting the images.

During these sessions, children also had the opportunity to try “reading” the book themselves, clearly enjoying the experience as they realized they could indeed infer the meaning of the written text by interpreting the corresponding images.

Children were also invited to share their opinions on the session, with results showing overwhelmingly positive feedback: 90% of the children “voted” the experience as “I liked it.”