The work of ROSTO SOLIDARIO – RS aims to foster global citizenship and solidarity by improving the human and social development of local communities. The basic principles of RS are civic participation, social integration, solidarity, networking and partnership.

The organisation’s scope of work includes four main areas: international development cooperation, global citizenship education, volunteerism and family-based social support. Gender equality, human rights and social inclusion are addressed as cross-cutting issues in all programmes promoted. 

Also Rosto Solidário takes Non-Formal Education approaches to foster lifelong learning opportunities following the Global Citizenship Framework. 

RS’s legal status of public utility as an NGO has been recognised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2008. As a member of the Portuguese NGOD Platform, it is represented in both the Working Group on Development Education and the Working Group on Ethics. 

RS is an accredited hosting and sending organisation for European Voluntary Service projects since 2011. At local level, RS is a member of Rede Social do concelho de Santa Maria da Feira (local network of 115 organisations providing social services – following the National Action Plan for Inclusion Guidelines). Within this network, RS has been awarded four times with recognition for its work in promoting voluntary work and supporting the development of local communities.

RS intends to develop this project with young people in vulnerable situations, namely: young people at risk of dropping out of school, young people from families with economic difficulties and also students from technical and professional courses (the latter often fall into the previous groups).

In Portugal, «huge social inequalities still exist» that directly influence inequalities in education. The Ministry of Education (2019) acknowledges that «there is an education system that does not respond to all those who attend compulsory school». It is therefore important to «implement different educational approaches» to reduce these inequalities.  Statistics show that, each year, around 50,000 primary school pupils and another 50,000 secondary school pupils fail, for various reasons: lack of financial means, lack of support from families, poor dissemination of information and the alternatives they feel and their own lack of will.

And what is dropping out of school? It is a scenario in which a pupil leaves school without having completed his or her education, which in some cases can happen even before the end of the school year. It is a very complex and multifaceted phenomenon resulting from a combination of factors that can be social, economic, educational and family.

In fact, disadvantaged families have higher rates of school failure, lead and drop-out rates, which limits young people’s access to the labour market and perpetuates a weak socio-economic situation.  As a general rule, dropping out of school is the result of a long and quite visible process of failure and progressive disinterest in education. Reasons may include: health difficulties; special educational needs; personal or family problems; poor relationship with teachers; poor relationship with peers and negative school climate, e.g. bullying; dissatisfaction with the results obtained. However, it is known that there are patterns in this choice and therefore some young people are considered to be more at risk than others depending on the context around them.