THE URBAN PROJECT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF YOUNG PEOPLE FROM THE OUTSKIRTS OF FORTALEZA-CE

Abstract

The study deals with Projovem Urbano, a programme set up by the
federal government in 2008, which aims to provide social inclusion and
comprehensive training for young people who have not completed primary
school and who live in urban areas. The aim is to understand the perception of
young people from Ceará who are part of Projovem Urbano about the possible
contributions and limitations of the programme in terms of citizen and
professional training. This was achieved by carrying out qualitative research
using thematic oral history as a methodology, from which free interviews were
conducted with four Projovem Urbano scholarship holders studying at a school
located in the Henrique Jorge neighbourhood, on the outskirts of Fortaleza,
Ceará. The subjects of the research are young people aged between 21 and 29,
descended from families in situations of social vulnerability, who dropped out
of school while still in primary school, and who wanted, through Projovem, to
complete basic schooling in order to then enter the labour market in search of
better financial conditions to ensure their family's livelihood. The conclusion is
that Projovem Urbano is a programme that gives peripheral young people a
glimpse of a more dignified life, but in order to achieve this, during the process,
they have to face a series of difficulties related to staying in school, such as
lack of financial support, disparity between the reality outside school and the
curricular content, and lack of support for student mothers.