From 19 to 21 September 2025, the Algarve region of Portugal hosted Encontro Movid@s 2025, a four-day capacity-building event that brought together community leaders, youth workers, NGO staff, and volunteers to co-create pathways for more inclusive, resilient, and participatory local communities.
The event was coordinated by Contextos, in close partnership with RedeMOVE, a regional network of youth and social organisations that also serves as the project’s Local Advisory Board. Together, they designed an immersive learning experience connecting over 35 participants from across the Algarve, building bridges between urban actors from Faro and rural organisations from the Barlavento sub-region, with the capacity-building event held in Odeceixe.
Through a participatory process, the Local Advisory Board collectively identified two priority themes for the event that reflected the real needs and aspirations of the local community, which were also identified during the previously conducted local needs assessment:
Hate Speech Prevention: addressing rising intolerance and its effects on vulnerable groups.
Well-being and Self-Care: supporting the emotional and mental health of youth workers, leaders, and volunteers.
Encontro Movid@s 2025 fostered meaningful connections between diverse community actors and generated two tangible outcomes that ensure lasting local impact:
The Movid@s Collective Mural : a public artwork in Odeceixe symbolising inclusion and community solidarity.
The Movid@s Network Plan : a participant-designed roadmap for sustaining collaboration and capacity-building beyond the event.
By combining participatory planning, non-formal learning, and community co-creation, Encontro Movid@s 2025 exemplified how local initiatives can become powerful drivers of inclusion, empowerment, and collective resilience in the Algarve and beyond.
You can read more about the 4-day capacity-building event in Portugal here!