Manolo Sola is our “European Person of the Month”. Born in Purchena (Almeria), he has been a librarian since 1989 in his home town, a culture and youth technician and head of the Youth Information Centre.
He is currently manager for the Eurodesk European youth information office, the only one of its kind in operation in the province of Almeria. In addition to promoting international youth exchange and mobility programmes aimed at young people from Purchena and other localities, he is a tutor for the European Solidarity Corps to host volunteers from other countries in its information centre and send young people from all over the province to volunteer in Europe and other regions of our country.
In 1993, as head of the Youth Information Centre and the Purchena Library, he was invited to participate in a training course in Ennis (Ireland), where, together with other youth workers from various countries, he discovered the European programmes and the possibilities they could offer to young people from isolated rural areas or inland villages far from the big cities.
The following year, the library and the CIJ organised the first European youth exchange. A group of boys and girls from Purchena got on a plane for the first time and flew to the Greek island of Chios. These young pioneers, who are now in their forties, still remember that experience which they shared with others from Greece, Italy, France…
That same year the European programmes began in Purchena. First exchange: Chios (Greece). Number of young people who have benefited from European programmes since this date, not only in youth exchange projects: 427.
In 1999 the European office of the Eurodesk network was opened in Purchena. This network is the most important network of youth information centres in Europe and is made up of more than 1,000 centres all over Europe.
In 2009 they received accreditation as a sending and hosting entity for European volunteers. The only town council in the province to send and host European volunteers within the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) programme. The Purchena CIJ has sent 42 young people from Purchena and the province to participate in volunteer programmes; 31 young people from other European countries have been hosted by the CES in Purchena.
In 2019 they receive the Eurodesk Network Award for the Welcoming Library project, developed by the public library and the CIJ of Purchena to advise and inform young people in juvenile centres.
In 2022 the European Projects Office of Purchena Town Council is created, attached to the Youth Information Centre.
They are currently developing four Youth Exchange Projects; two European Solidarity Corps Projects; they are promoters of two KA2 Projects and partners in four others.
European Person of the Month
“European Personage of the Month” is a joint activity carried out by all the centres that are part of the European Information Network of Andalusia and whose main objective is to publicise and disseminate through social networks the work of Andalusian citizens who carry out, or have carried out, outstanding and/or commemorative deeds in the EU.
Each month a member of the Network will nominate the person they consider to be the #EuropeanPersonoftheMonth.
More information: European Person of the Month
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