- Elizabeth Johnston
Welcome to the Efus podcast, a podcast produced by the European Forum for Urban Security in collaboration with the ICARUS project, Innovative Approaches to Urban Security. I'm Elizabeth Johnston, the Executive Director of Efus, the European network of 250 local and regional authorities dedicated to urban security policies. I'm very glad today to be joined by Monica Diniz, Head of Prevention, Security, and International Relations. at the City of Lisbon.
- Monica Diniz
Hello Elizabeth.
- Elizabeth Johnston
By Rui Pinho, JDL project coordinator.
- Rui Pinho
Hello Elizabeth.
- Elizabeth Johnston
And by Sandra Rodriguez, municipal police officer in Lisbon.
Hello. Welcome to the three of you. Let's start with you Monica. Can you share with us a little bit of background on what problem you were trying to tackle when you set up the JDL, Joven Design Lisboa, a tool which offers a design-oriented approach to involve young people in community safety.
- Monica Diniz
Yes, well, it was first on prevention of juvenile delinquency, but for us it was prevention of risk behaviors. How could we promote better protective factors among our youth? And the main reason for that was because, especially after the pandemic, COVID pandemic, we felt in the community policing neighborhoods in Lisbon, that the relationship with youth and police has changed. A lot of police officers, they said that the young people, especially adolescents, became to have more defiant behavior towards them than before. This is something new because they knew them before, but in the two, three-year times, they changed. So for us, it was important how could we, at the same time that we wanted to promote protective facts, and healthy behavior among youth, at the same time, how could we better have developed this relationship between the police and youngsters? And so this was our main challenge with the tool we have developed later.
- Elizabeth Johnston
And you started the partnership with RUI's association, already had this partnership, and designed the project together?
- Monica Diniz
Well, it was because we have meetings on a daily basis under the Community Policing Project. It's what we call our security group partnership. So this was something that was already mentioned. But when we started the project, we invited associations like Rui's Associations that work with youth for, together with the municipal police, to think about how could we address this challenge. of putting the youth and the police to improve the relationships and also to improve better and more positive behaviours.
- Rui Pinho
I can say that we work already after this and we participate in some activities with the police, with our kids that we work with. And every time that we have the possibility to give them a voice, and I think that what... GDL talks about. It's about participation, give for the kids and for the community a voice. We are always waiting for that kind of project. So when we started our partnership specifically with GDL project, we were very excited because it's a possibility to give to the youth a voice about their community.
- Elizabeth Johnston
Sandra, was the excitement shared also on the police side as a police officer? How did you perceive this collaboration with the young people?
- Sandra Rodriguez
By showing young people that everyone has the same concern, the youth, the sports and the youth associations, the police, they all want the best for the neighbourhood. The young people, by exposing their ideas and fears to representatives or of institutions, they are left with the feeling that they have a voice. and the competence to decide what they want and what they need from themselves. This process helps them to feel included in the neighborhood and that together with the institutions they will achieve better results.
- Elizabeth Johnston
Were you used to working with police authorities specifically or do you think that was a big adaptation for you all? No,
- Rui Pinho
we already work with the police in some activities that would develop in a specific neighborhood in Lisbon. But of course, we have an adaptation to start the process, to start developing the JDL process. But I think the fact that we met already, the people that were working with us, like Sandra and other agents, was very easier for the youth to work with them and work together.
- Elizabeth Johnston
And Sandra, if you would like to answer that question.
- Sandra Rodriguez
The police-citizen relationship is always very important. During the JDL demonstration, it was important that the young participants see the police almost as one of them, in the sense that we are there to support them so they could see the police as an asset. It was important that we are not only present when something wrong happens or to repress them. We can analyze problems and develop solutions for a better life in the neighborhood. to help to counter their limitations, difficulties, and adversities on life. So we try, they did not see us a repressive way, but rather as someone they can trust.
- Elizabeth Johnston
Thank you. Monica, you mentioned the local security councils and have a great experience of working on this community involvement. What was specific, in your opinion, about JDL? Was it the designs? oriented approach?
- Monica Diniz
I would think so, because it was a very structured method that we followed through. I think this was really helpful. And I would say also that the fact that we start this together, when we first have our local workshop, and with all our key stakeholders working with youth, we started to think together, what should we address? And these make us having like a common goal. and to listening to each other, what we discovered was that we were in tune about what, and this was mentioned by the youth workers, whatever is going to be the tool to young people, they are the ones that have to decide for themselves what they will have to do. And this was from the starting point, right, Foy? Yes,
- Rui Pinho
that gives them orientation and demonstrates that the community has some problems, that they... identify and they give some solutions. And it's a process that we share with the citizens and the institutions that are involved, like the municipal policy and other institutions that participate in these specific groups that Monica talked about. It's like a co-participation.
- Elizabeth Johnston
Could you describe for us a little bit concretely and walk us through the different steps of the project?
- Monica Diniz
Our main steps was to define about what was our challenge. That was in that first workshop I mentioned about. And then after that, and because we have under the IcARUS program, we have also the universities and we have the University of Southport with us. And they had already shared and they have developed also Youth Design Against Crime program that has the same challenges that we were discussing about to use in Lisbon. So. We took it from there based on what works. That's also what we have been developing under the roadmap with the University of York and Leeds. And so it was developed like a proposal to our partners on the second workshop based on Youth Design Against Crime. So that's when we have the Youth Design Lisbon based on already previous work, but taking into account what our youth workers are partners from. the Community Policing in Lisbon have proposed. After it was again validated by our partners and we incorporate the suggestions, it should include life skills for youth, it should be a program where the youth will be the ones that will have to contribute for the solution themselves, all the criteria that we have identified. Then we started a 12-week program to make the demonstration. And from that, Rui, I pass it to you. So just to say before, we have a training session to prepare the youth workers and the police mentors. And after that, the training, we have a launch event with the young people.
- Rui Pinho
Yeah, and the first part was very important for us, like mentors of the project. And after that, the idea here was how to explain, how to present the project to the youth in our specific. community during the first part of the process. We developed a lot of documents that we prepared to start and to implement the project with youth. And for youth it's very important when we talk about competition, you know, because we are different teams in the same community and the competition between them, a healthy competition of course, because the most important It's not to win, but the most important is the fair play during the process. So for us, and I think for the mentors from the police and for the kids, the most important is the process, not the ending. And every week we have a meeting together, each team with two mentors, one from our association, another one from the police, agent from office from the municipality police, and then we start to develop the process. First of all, they have to know the community very well and they start to identify some visual problems that when they go outside in the neighborhood, because we're talking about a social municipal neighborhood with a specific characteristics and idea. We go outside and we go look what we see that we don't like and what solution we have. And during that process, they identify the problems, not only by themselves, but talking with the community, talking with the ladies of the coffee, talk with the old people. They made some interviews and then they analyze the results all together and they start to identify specific problems. And during the other sessions, they have to, okay, we have the problem, we have to find a solution for that. The problems that were identified were very structural problems. At the end, they have a wonderful job, they identify the solution, the problems, and they build some markets from the solutions. And they have the opportunity to present the solution to the mayor of Lisbon. And at the moment, some of the projects have already effective resolution. Some of them we are waiting, but we think that they are in the good way. But one thing that is very important in all the process, when we talk about the team and the group, it's at the end of the project. After the 12 weeks, we saw that specific group very close and much more open to understand the difference between the groups.
- Elizabeth Johnston
How do you reach out to those young people? And how do you get them to be involved in what could seem like a very institutional project?
- Rui Pinho
We do the same from our project for our association. And we put some energy in a specific project like GDL. The first contact that we have with them is in the street with a whizzer and with a bow. It's the first contact that we have with them. And then the idea is to bring them to the association and start to participate in our activities. And most part of the activities are related to citizenship and to give them power, make them understand that they have the same rights that everyone that lives in Portugal, because they are, at the moment, they are stigmatized because they are living in a social and municipal neighborhood and they don't have the same opportunity that other kids or other young that live outside the social neighborhood.
- Sandra Rodriguez
Showing ears, their strength and working together by jointly identify what are their difficulties and needs and to think about the solutions themselves. Contributes to make them believe in themselves and their own competence.
- Elizabeth Johnston
Some of the cities or partners that are listening to us today might be interested in setting up such a scheme in their own localities. Can you share some? tips and some of the critical success factors, in your opinion?
- Rui Pinho
When I think in GDL project, there is a word that comes to my mind, it's trust. At the beginning, and we present this in our association to the teams that will participate, like this is a pilot project, and we have some institutions that trust in you, and they give you the possibility to participate and to give. some inputs to change your community in a positive way. So they trust you. After that, I think the magic happening.
- Elizabeth Johnston
Sandra.
- Sandra Rodriguez
The main factors are the fact that they were able to identify their problems by themselves, by having the feeling that they can help the police and institutions to achieve a safer community and also be feeling that they are working together and are integral parts of a project.
- Elizabeth Johnston
I was going to ask a concluding question on if you see this as something you would like to organize regularly and how you see the future of this.
- Monica Diniz
When we first developed the GDL tool, we had in mind precisely the transferability of it to other community policing neighborhoods. Today, we are planning in two new neighborhoods already. So this is a very helpful tool because it's so structured. We have the workbooks, we have the guides. We are doing, and because when we started, we invited all our partners that work with youth. So they already are in the project from the beginning. Although the demonstration, it was in one specifically neighborhood, which for us has the best, as we said, the best conditions to start with. But now we learn from it and we are now with our partners. that started with us thinking about the requirements to do the project and they were invited to go to the final event. So they were there also, some of our partners from other neighborhoods. And now they wanted for them neighborhoods as well.
- Elizabeth Johnston
Thank you very much. Monica, do you have any closing words that you would like to share?
- Monica Diniz
I would say that it is really important that the municipal police now can have to develop this relationship between young people and the police officers. It was something that it was being difficult to train without the tool. And this is very positive because the demonstration process allows us to improve it, to think about it. and now how to transfer to other neighborhoods. And that's what we already done. And we hope this will help also to improve the safety of the different neighborhoods in Lisbon.
- Elizabeth Johnston
Thank you so much for describing and sharing with us your experience of the JDL practice, which was, as you said, and which will, I'm sure, be inspiring for others. And also, it's very encouraging to hear that you're going to mainstream it and make it something throughout the city of Lisbon. So thank you, Sandra. Thank you. Thank you, Hui. Thank you so much. And Monica, thank you very much as well.
- Monica Diniz
Thank you so much, Lisbon.
- Elizabeth Johnston
Thank you to our audience for listening as well. We hope you've enjoyed this episode, which was produced in the framework of the Icarus Project, Innovative Approaches to Urban Security, funded by the European Commission. We look forward to sharing more insights and discussions with you in the future, so don't forget to subscribe to this podcast and visit our website. Stay tuned for the next episode of the Efus podcast.
