Bernardo Gonçalves

Bernardo is igniting the spark of democratic participation in young people by creating a new architecture to work with their local political representatives to make a real, tangible impact on their community.  

In an era plagued by decreasing youth engagement in politics, attributed to a sense of undervaluation, lack of trust, and few routes for participation and dialogue with governmental bodies, Bernardo is revolutionizing civic engagement and changemaking for young people.

Bernardo became involved in local government as a teenager and was disappointed by party politics, characterized by an excessive focus on competitive internal dynamics and a lack of openness to contributions from citizens. This experience was instrumental in developing his vocation to improve civic participation for youth. His vision crystallized in 2017 when Citizenship Education became a core component of the formal school curriculum. Motivated by the lack of practical and participatory methodologies for teachers, Bernardo created MyPolis—a pioneer model designed to bridge the gap between theory and practice, offering youth a fun, hands-on experience of democracy in action.

Partnering with municipalities across Portugal has been crucial for a fast and sustainable implementation of the MyPolis program in schools, transforming them into vibrant hubs of youth participation. Municipalities commit human and financial resources to implement Bernardo´s model to foster meaningful engagement, while educators access gamified educational programs to instill civic values and active citizenship in students. The objective of this innovative approach is for students to identify community issues and collaborate with local authorities to implement solutions. This face-to-face relationship empowers youth while enriching political representatives’ understanding of youth perspectives and priorities. What begins as an unfamiliar interaction between young citizens and those in political power transforms into one characterized by mutual knowledge, action, and a sense of shared purpose.

In addition, the inclusive approach of MyPolis, with its outreach to socio-economically fragile regions, sets it apart from conventional methods of civic engagement that often appeal to privileged minorities. By prioritizing accessibility and representation for less favored youth, Bernardo ensures that young voices from all corners of society are not only heard but actively empowered to shape their communities.

Bernardo’s innovative tools are easily adaptable to diverse contexts, empowering educators to utilize his model independently. Forty territories in Portugal have been transformed into participatory arenas, with over 5,000 proposals submitted and 250 already implemented. More than 40,000 young citizens have actively participated in the MyPolis project, demonstrating a fertile arena for youth changemaking. Bolstered by its success in Portugal, Bernardo has established a recent partnership with the EU’s Citizens, Equality, Rights, and Values Programme (CERV) to scale MyPolis in September 2024 to Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Spain.

In the past decades, youth has been alarmingly absent from national elections, with an average of almost 60% of eligible voters aged 18 to 24 choosing not to vote1. The decreased voter turnout implies a skewed representation and policies not reflective of youth interests and needs, alienating them further from the socio-political sphere. In Portugal, a recent national-level study revealed that young people aged 15 to 34 are not interested in conventional forms of political participation: Only 8% of young people said they participate in a political party, and 8.4% in social movements.1
Youth absenteeism and disengagement from conventional forms of democracy stem from two main factors:

Spaces for youth participation: As decision-making spaces are often secured for adults with sporadic youth participation opportunities and limited channels of communication across groups, young people feel perceived as powerless and irrelevant to lead meaningful change in their communities. Consequently, youth has been compelled to either remain inactive or participate in unconventional and more horizontal forms of democratic participation such as manifestations, online petitions and/or sharing content on social networks2. However, these methods, while useful, are not acknowledged by traditional political channels, perpetuating a sense of youth disempowerment. Therefore, this creates a detrimental cycle of disillusionment, untapped potential, and insufficient representation, widening the gap between young people and the democratic process. This issue is particularly pronounced in rural and socially excluded areas, exacerbating the divide further.

Civic education lacking practical components: as mentioned, in 2017, Portugal implemented a nationwide strategy introducing citizenship education in the school curriculum to activate citizen participation through the lens of human rights, gender equality, sustainable development, and democratic participation3. Teachers were considered crucial in the implementation, as they were allowed full autonomy to best adapt the skills and subjects to be taught throughout the year. However, no previous training, practical learning tools, or spaces for assembly were provided to them. Rather than a practical and appealing citizenship learning experience, this knowledge transmission-based model left young people ill-equipped to navigate political systems, to have relevant and quality experiences at the community and local levels and engage with local authorities.
The parallel realities of 1) increasing youth lack of participation or at best non-conventional participation and 2) the public efforts to implement citizenship as a core subject in education, offer a unique opportunity to activate and harness youth talent, energy, and ideas in addressing societal challenges whilst transforming their role as partners for community improvement and decision-making processes.

MyPolis stands out for its integration into school curricula, leveraging the inclusion of citizenship as a core subject in Portugal. Through carefully designed educational programs spanning from primary to 12th grade, MyPolis ensures that democracy isn’t just an abstract concept but a daily practice ingrained in the lives of young people. Bernardo achieves this through a three-pronged strategy:

1. From untapped potential to an activation program at the intersection of municipalities, schools, and educational authorities.
On the one hand, Bernardo leverages the support and subscription of municipalities with a business-to-government strategy. MyPolis is presented to town councils as a model that can nurture the citizenship curriculum in schools whilst simultaneously creating a close relationship with youth and teachers. Bernardo seeks a pledge from town councils regarding human resources and financial commitment for implementation in schools. This income is the backbone of the project´s sustainability.

Local town council officials (normally youth workers) designated by the municipality work closely with school representatives to facilitate community engagement, proposal implementation, and stakeholder management, while the MyPolis central team focuses on developing and deploying the necessary tools and providing capacity building.

On the other hand, public and private schools are recruited to lobby the town council for the program as they perceive a clear added value for the classroom and relevance for their pedagogical goals. The MyPolis team develops games and practical tools in collaboration with teachers and students, enabling them to precisely address concrete needs and transform classrooms into participation academies. Consequently, finding and training champions inside schools who can mobilize resources and attention internally is critical, these are often teachers who lead citizenship education teams. MyPolis employs a carefully designed toolkit and train-the-trainer model to build capacity with teachers at scale. Bernardo has observed accelerated adoption once case studies of successful collaboration between youth and political representatives are presented. This, coupled with the relevance of the tools for the national curriculum, is why Bernardo´s ultimate goal is integration into educational systems at the national scale.

To date, they have trained more than 300 teachers and youth workers from municipalities to autonomously implement the program after receiving guidance during the initial implementation phase, which typically spans three months to one year.

2. Unlocking the agency of youth through engaging experiences
The co-created practical and engaging learning experiences, from board games to digital escape rooms – meticulously designed to resonate with and captivate young people – are transforming citizenship and democracy education into a thrilling adventure. Students embark on electoral simulations, devise real proposals, run campaigns, and even apply the D’Hondt Method to elect Councilors who collaborate closely with municipal authorities. These activities incorporate elements familiar to youth culture, including gamification, videos, online voting systems, and systems for expressing likes and dislikes.

The classroom experience is carefully adapted to different age groups. In elementary school, students use a board game to learn how to participate. Older students play digital games and collaborate with political representatives. At the high school level, the "Citizenship Counselors" game immerses students in the electoral process, culminating in the election of representatives tasked with amplifying student voices within the local council. These immersive experiences equip students with vital skills such as active listening, empathy, teamwork, and critical thinking, empowering them to become agents of change in their communities.

3. Building a community of young people and allied authorities
Bernardo is shaping a society where every voice matters, and everyone has the power to influence and participate in the world around them. Through the "Assembly of Social Transformers", a physical forum where students directly engage with political representatives present and co-create solutions and influence policy agendas for their communities.

These assemblies serve as platforms for students to present their proposals face-to-face to their communities and local representatives. Municipalities also leverage interactive tools like the "Citizenship Wheel of Fortune" to encourage dialogue and mutual knowledge between young citizens and political representatives. Several challenges are proposed in the wheel with a timer and serve as prompts to kick off the dialogue.

Additionally, MyPolis has revolutionized Youth Participatory Budgeting, turning it into an engaging game that empowers young people to make conscious decisions about municipal budget management. Finally, to facilitate the connection between students, educators, and municipal authorities, MyPolis offers an online platform, providing a space for young people and community members to share concerns and propose solutions for their territories that are deliberated upon in the Assembly of Social Transformers. Municipal representatives have direct access to this platform, fostering dialogue and collaboration between youth and local government.

As a result, youth initiatives are being implemented in more and more places across the country thanks to MyPolis programs. From solar-powered bus stops, language classes for immigrants, tree planting initiatives, human rights campaigns, or an annual community fair that has collected more than 1 ton of food and goods for families in need, Bernardo’s work is the spark that enables tangible changemaking to take place.

Bernardo is building a future where democracy isn’t just a concept but a lived experience for all young people across 40 municipalities nationwide. Similar models have been implemented with Bernardo´s leadership in Norway, in partnership with local associations and in Cabo Verde with the national government. These partnerships typically include a shared revenue model, context-based train-the-trainers methodology, and regional partners ensuring community management and proposal implementation support. MyPolis has been recognized as an excellent initiative in Digital Inclusion, earning praise from the European Commission.

Bernardo has ensured continuous improvement and sustainability through robust mechanisms for impact monitoring, evaluating, and iterating on the effectiveness of MyPolis initiatives.

The results from the evaluation conducted by teachers during the school year 2022 – 2023 reveal a significant impact across all participating areas. There has been a remarkable 59% increase in students’ knowledge of participation channels and a 46% increase in their ownership and responsibility for the school environment. Additionally, there is a 44% increase in the perceived importance of elections among students and a 46% increase in their understanding of local representatives and their roles within the community. Furthermore, student autonomy has significantly increased by 38%, and there is a commendable 33% increase in student creativity.

These findings underscore MyPolis’ profound impact in reinforcing core democratic and civic values. By nurturing these qualities, MyPolis is shaping future generations as changemakers and fostering the development of a fairer and more engaged community. The emphatic endorsement of MyPolis is evident in the support from participating teachers, with 99% rating the program’s impact as a 7 or higher on a scale of 1 to 10.

Bernardo’s journey exemplifies a deep commitment to addressing the shortcomings of the political system through social entrepreneurship and community engagement.

Bernardo now lives in Lisbon but is originally from Torres Novas. His town had an important community spirit, and, in his teens, Bernardo and his group of friends had a strong sense of belonging and a marked desire to effect change there. He believed that the most effective approach would involve working through a political party, and his early involvement in one as a youngster reflected his genuine interest in politics and community work. However, his disillusionment with the party’s internal dynamics highlighted the need for greater citizen involvement and alternative avenues for direct participation and collaboration in addressing collective issues. Pursuing an Economics and Public Policy degree provided Bernardo with valuable insights and skills. His tenure as president of the university students’ union further honed his leadership abilities and deepened his understanding of representative decision-making processes.

Unlike many of his peers who pursued profit-driven ventures, Bernardo’s ambitions lie in effecting social transformation. His background equipped him with the tools to mobilize resources to reach his goals whilst also focusing on impact measurement and reiteration of his solutions, guiding his mission to create tangible and meaningful change through MyPolis.

Bernardo’s journey is one of politics, social entrepreneurship, and community engagement, driven by a passion for effecting positive change and empowering citizens to shape their collective futures.