On Monday, December 14, Iniciativa Internacional Joven invited the responsible of the Andalusian Youth Institute in Málaga,
Esperanza Barrios, to visit their organization.
The Andalusian Youth Institute is a public body, attached to the Regional Ministry of Employment,
Training and Self-employment, which has, among others, the functions of (1) planning,
programming, organizing, monitoring and evaluating youth-related actions; (2) encouraging
participation, promotion, information and training in the field of youth; (3) promoting,
programming and developing socio-cultural animation in Andalusia and research in the field of
youth; (4) organizing, planning, coordinating and managing matters related with youth spaces and
facilities and (5) monitoring current regulations and their application in youth matters.
In each province of Andalusia there is a Provincial Directorate, that exercises the institutional
representation of the body in the territorial area and its competences and functions.
Esperanza Barrios came together with Antonia Palomo, which is the responsible of the Erasmus+
Programme in our province.
During the meeting, Ana Belén Domínguez, General Director of Iniciativa Internacional Joven, and
Irene Castillo, Coordinator of the Volunteering and Participation Area, reflected on the situation of
young people in Spain, which is particularly hard because of Covid-19 pandemic. It is a very
important challenge for a city like Malaga, which is highly dependent on tourism. Indeed, many
young people were used to find jobs, although many of them were precarious, in the field of
tourism and hospitality. We presented to the two representatives of the Andalusian Youth Institute
the project “Heritage for YOUth” and how to undertake/start social entrepreneurship projects or
activities in the field of ecotourism and sustainable tourism could be a good option for youth living
in Andalusia
