On 24 October 2022, a Quality Label exploratory visit took place in Braga Youth Centre, Portugal with the aim to introduce the work of the youth centre to Council of Europe representatives from operational perspective, and to also provide a deeper insight into its mission and educational philosophy as well as the strategic priorities of the centre.

The visit, that was organised in the presence of the Mayor of Braga, Ricardo Rio and the representatives of Braga Youth Centre, held an exchange on the youth centre’s potential of becoming a quality labelled youth centre which has been defined as one of the main objectives for Braga Youth Centre. The main mission of Braga Youth Centre is to support young people by promoting non-formal educational approaches and offering pedagogical youth programmes and quality youth work. In addition to organising residential youth activities, the Braga Youth Centre also hosts the regional services of the Portuguese Institute for Sport and Youth.

 Braga Youth Centre submitted a formal application for the Council of Europe Quality Label for Youth Centres in October 2022 as the second Portuguese youth centre aspiring to be officially awarded the Quality Label. As a next step, the Quality Label expert team will make an assessment to the youth centre’s application to evaluate its fulfilment of the 15 quality criteria. In case of a positive assessment, an exploratory visit of the expert team will be planned for spring 2023.