English - About Us

Joves Navegants Foundation of Balearics

Created in March 2003 after 12 years as an association, Joves Navegants was formed to promote a Youth Sail Training Scheme for underprivileged children in the Balearic Islands.

It seeks to promote social integration within the young people of our Independent Community for which we have developed suitable intervention programs, utilizing and making the most of the main and riches natural resource of the islands: the sea.

Every year, an average of 300 youths (mostly from orphanages or residential homes for children with special needs) are taken out for a day of adventure.

It is the Foundation’s desire to continue a very rooted tradition in surrounding countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, Holland, etc. where this type of social intervention enjoys a well deserved reputation.

The GALAXIE

The main asset of the foundation is the GALAXIE, a Spanish flag sailing boat built in the French shipyard Chantie naval de Biot in 1979. It was designed by the famous French naval architect Dominique Presles. The boat has mostly sailed in the Pacific Ocean and has been around the world several times.

The GALAXIE is a ketch of 21 meters length with the capacity to allocate 12 people, including crew and passengers.

Its particular characteristics make the boat specially adapted for the needs, activities and programs of the Foundation. It is a light, solid and fast boat that allows all the passengers to share and participate actively in all the manoeuvres and activities of the intense life when on board of the boat.

Plano galaxie1

The boat is equipped with modern navigating security systems as well as a manual manoeuvre that requires full participation of the total crew, needed to achieve proper functioning. Through this active participation the young people feel useful, valuing their contribution to the common task by obtaining an immediate recognition to their efforts; very important when learning and educating.

Our boat is the heart of our operation and our projection to the future. The image that best defines our desire for formation, adventure and work : The GASLAXIE is a faithful ambassador, always ready for the rewarding task to contribute to the progress and development of the young people of Baleares.

The Foundation carries out a series of activities that can be classified in three well defined blocks:

1 - SOCIAL INTEGRATION PROGRAMS,

“Developed for the young people of the Community with relating or adaptation problems”.

These programs are directed to a wide group of young people, ranging from social marginalization due to poverty, delinquency, uprooting and a lack of family structure, etc. and to those others that through suffering some mental or physical disability have fewer possibilities to integrate in society.

In resume, this program is specific for the young people of our Community suffering from some sort of social discrimination problem. This children are in need for help and support to develop social skills, which will enable them to integrate and to become useful members of our society.

2 - TRAINING

“Design and preparation of training programs to capacitate young people, up to a practical, technical or professional level, in order to give them a better opportunity to enter the labour or professional market”.

Our idea is to develop and perfect practical and professional formation and training courses for those young people who have shown a keen interest to work in areas related to the sea.

We also inspire and awaken them the interest in those others who are not familiar with the field, by letting them know the possibilities that could represent in their lives some professional formation, to improve their opportunities in life.

To achieve this, the Foundation makes its own projects; we also collaborate in the necessary agreements with the public administration institutions, with legal authority, to carry out this type of formation.

The Foundation designs and develops specific programs of intervention whose length and characteristics depend on the specific objectives related to each specific case. All the programs of intervention are carried out in our boat THE GALAXIE. The aim is to improve social and emotional abilities of the participants allowing them to surpass the difficulties which they must face.

3 - RAISING MONEY

We raise funds by renting THE GALAXIE privately, through charter activities, diving, recreation, scientific research, cleansing of beaches, days of coexistence, company meetings, etc. . The collected funds are destined to finance the programs in which the Foundation is involved.

Experience has shown that the specific conditions, in which these programs are carried out, facilitate the fulfilment of the aimed objectives. We have learn that through the coexistence and the inevitable need to socialise with the rest of the members of the team in a healthy environment and a permanent contact with nature and situations of privation and adventure when on board of the boat added to the intensity of the activities experienced in the journey, make the life in THE GALAXIE a unique experience. It is as well a pedagogical opportunity of extraordinary value to develop individual responsibility, respect towards others, comradeship, opening to new experiences, taken care of the nature, team work, etc.

Thanks to the extraordinary support that we get from our boat and to the privileged conditions in which these training programs are carried out, we are able to increase the self-esteem of the young people, improve their independence and responsibility and increase their capacity to problems solving in difficult and unforeseeable situations. This youth also learn to communicate ideas and information, evaluate opportunities, discuss and debate their aspirations and projects and increase their capacity to relate and comradeship with different people. All this leads to a feeling of responsibility for the well-being of third party. All this is achieved with the support of specialized instructors and the experienced crew of the GALAXIE.

The list of associations that have worked with us during these years is numerous. We will mention only some, they are: hogares del Temple, Centro Ocupacional Jovent, GREC, Asociación de niños sordos, AMITICIA, Projecte Jove, Projecte Home, Fundación Diagrama, Intress, Nazaret, Ateneu Alcari, etc.

The Foundation also carry out a series of activities that, although of short duration, not less important, such as one day boat trips. With these short trips the Foundation aims to familiarize the young people of the community with the sea and navigation. To give them the opportunity to know their environment from a privileged observatory as it is the GALAXIE.

For the development of all these activities the Foundation receives subventions and aids that have their origin in private and public organizations: Baleares Government, Sa Nostra, Pinmar, Sails 2000, Los Leones, etc.