The MERCOSUR Social Institute (ISM) and FONPLATA — Development Bank launched the second phase of MERCOSUR’s Youth and Borders Project. The initiative seeks to strengthen social protection and development systems in border areas of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

The project aims at broadening the socioeconomic diagnosis in these areas, strengthening youth participation, and promoting policies that foster labor inclusion, gender equality, and guarantee of rights, reaffirming the social dimension as a pillar of regional integration.

In this sense, FONPLATA granted a non-reimbursable technical cooperation with the purpose of generating knowledge and promoting youth participation and advocacy actions to contribute to the design of inclusive public policies for adolescents and young people aged 15 to 29.

The new stage of the project will focus on the triple border between Argentina (Puerto Iguazú), Brazil (Foz do Iguaçu), and Paraguay (Ciudad del Este), as well as in the double borders between Argentina (Concordia) and Uruguay (Salto), and Brazil (Livramento) and Uruguay (Rivera), where analyses, campaigns, workshops, and spaces for dialogue between young people and authorities will be implemented.

The expected results include the preparation and dissemination of an updated diagnosis on the youth situation in the triple border, the implementation of actions towards youth participation and political dialogue, and the exchange of best practices in youth policies.

This initiative is within the scope of the Memorandum of Understanding between MERCOSUR and FONPLATA, signed in 2024, and is aligned with the Biannual Work Program 2025–2026 approved at the MERCOSUR Social Development Ministers and Authorities Meeting. With this action, FONPLATA reaffirms its commitment to a harmonious, inclusive, and territorially focused development, promoting the social dimension as a pillar of regional integration.

More information on the “Youth and Borders” collection of studies:

https://www.ismercosur.org/es/coleccion-juventudes-y-fronteras-en-el-mercosur

06/05/2025