The Government of the Azores, through the Regional Directorate for Youth, will provide a Youth Advisory Office at the University of the Azores, located on the Ponta Delgada campus. The office will enter into operation in April. The information was provided by the Regional Director for Youth, Bruno Pacheco, who met yesterday with the partners of the Youth Advisory Office of Rabo de Peixe at the Youth Community Centre of that village.

According to the Regional Director for Youth, Bruno Pacheco, the third Youth Advisory Office is targeted at university students and will also work as support office for students.

Integrated in the Azores Youth Information System - SIJA, the Youth Advisory Offices "have allowed a personal contact with youngsters, thus contributing to the implementation of awareness raising initiatives, workshops and training courses organised by the Offices and/or by partner organisations," said Bruno Pacheco.

The Government of the Azores, through the Regional Directorate for Youth, and in the context of SIJA, also provides Azorean youngsters with other information services such as ICT (information and communication technologies) spaces as well as with web mechanisms and tools - "Youngsters with future."

Currently there are two Offices operating in the Azores: the Rabo de Peixe Youth Advisory Office on São Miguel and the Praia da Vitória Youth Advisory Office on Terceira. The first one has made contact, through a personalised interaction, with over 1200 youngsters from Rabo de Peixe to Nordeste.

The Youth Advisory Offices aim to identify the needs of youngsters from each locality, coordinate joint actions with various entities and services of the Regional Public Administration and enhance synergies in the area where the Office is located in order to better respond to the needs identified.

This is also a free, anonymous and confidential support office for youngsters, whose goal is to inform, support, encourage and guide youngsters from the local community.

These Offices provide a young mediator and a technical staff, working on rotation, with the purpose of helping youngsters to solve their problems and accomplish their projects.

European Affairs and External Cooperation; Culture; Education; Employment/Unemployment; Labour; Vocational Training; Entrepreneurship; Housing; Sport; Equality of Opportunities; Communities; Addiction Prevention and Combat; Health and Civil Protection are the areas addressed by these youth offices.