Social Cohesion Days
II edition

26 - 27 - 28 May, 2016
Reggio Emilia

Stories of social cohesion

To talk about social cohesion we started from its stories, mapping the best practices, projects and realities made up by people or institutions, that explain – sometimes better than numbers – what it means to create social cohesion in Italy. We tried to reveal them through interviews, articles, videos and images. This section is constantly updated.

Welcome Refugees

Welcome Refugees

Reception for asylum seekers
The living conditions of people seeking asylum in a foreign country, fleeing war and persecution, is often dramatic and temporary. To take actively part in order to contribute to the improvement of their living conditions is possible and relatively simple. With Welcome Refugees is now possible to host a refugee as roommate. The host can be helped to bear the…

The living conditions of people seeking asylum in a foreign country, fleeing war and persecution, is often dramatic and temporary. To take actively part in order to contribute to the improvement of their living conditions is possible and relatively simple. With Welcome Refugees is now possible to host a refugee as roommate. The host can be helped to bear the costs through micro crow-funding projects and through specific public funding. In the meantime, refugees will be helped to settle into a more human reality made of relationships, activities, exchanges, in a fair coexistence that respects everyone’s dignity. The International Network Welcome Refugee was born in Berlin in 2014, arriving in Italy the following year, to spread foster homes for asylum seekers.

The District Tables

The District Tables

The District Tables are places of participation and planning nurtured by the contribution of several public and third sector social actors, thus with a mixed composition (social and healthcare service providers, citizens, voluntary associations, parishioners) and fluid (during a long journey there is who comes in, who goes out, who comes back), with substantial project autonomy and relevant consistency of…

The District Tables are places of participation and planning nurtured by the contribution of several public and third sector social actors, thus with a mixed composition (social and healthcare service providers, citizens, voluntary associations, parishioners) and fluid (during a long journey there is who comes in, who goes out, who comes back), with substantial project autonomy and relevant consistency of meetings (at least one meeting per month). They constitute a “territorial device” that makes of territoriality a choice of real closeness, where those who participate are confronted with the issues of that territory to identify new opportunities to support families and people in their life contexts.
Born in 2006 and promoted by the Poli territoriali di Servizio Sociale, they depart from re-designing the day centers for the elderly and have generated, in their early years, several initiatives for the elderly both not self-sufficient and of the so-called “middle area”. They work, then, right away, on the fight against the loneliness, isolation and creation of strong links around the elderly, to solve their problems, and make them a resource for the community. The positive results achieved thorough this experience have favored their diffusion, so much so that today the District Tables, understood as participatory planning sites, are active not only for the elderly sector, but also with respect to issues of parenting and disability. In their decade-long experience they have built and implemented over 50 projects, involving citizens and volunteers, with almost zero costs.
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P’orto di Lampedusa (Lampedusa’s harbor-garden)

P’orto di Lampedusa (Lampedusa’s harbor-garden)

A new point of view. From the bottom.
The garden as symbol of the community: that’s how in Lampedusa people create places of research, experimentation and aggregation through the unifying factor of the land and its vital productivity. The creation of a community garden, whose lots are intended for islanders and of the Day Center of Lampedusa’s guests (people with physical and psycho-intellectual disability), will soon be repeated…

The garden as symbol of the community: that’s how in Lampedusa people create places of research, experimentation and aggregation through the unifying factor of the land and its vital productivity. The creation of a community garden, whose lots are intended for islanders and of the Day Center of Lampedusa’s guests (people with physical and psycho-intellectual disability), will soon be repeated with the creation of a second one, which will be built during the 2016 volunteering summer camp organized by Terra! Onlus.

“The image of the island – explains Silvia Cama, coordinator of the project – is too often linked to dramatic events, while the project of the gardens in Lampedusa intends to give back a positive and vital picture of this land, both externally and internally”.

The garden is therefore a path for individuals and communities to become aware, not only a way for environmental and landscaping regeneration. In partnership with the University and Legambiente, the association chose to select local seeds originating on the island, to activate low water impact crops, to construct two geodesic domes for the reception area and the “semenzario” (seeds nursery), thus creating a sustainable project in many ways: environmentally, economically and even aesthetically, as they are placed in the archaeological areas (in accordance with the local Authority). The project, started with Alleance Foundation’s funding, allowed the growth of a small local economy. A person, funded full-time, will follow the project on-site for two years. Thanks to the work of day care center guests, a collection door-to-door of organic waste from greengrocers is now active, in order to feed the garden compost. Personal and food self-sufficiency, dignity, environment, relationships are therefore the key words of this project which starts from the land to create a new vision.

#BeyondPerimeters

#BeyondPerimeters

The new welfare for the new poverty
The past few years have forced Italian society to deal with new forms of poverty, new hardships and therefore new demands of social intervention that existing structures couldn’t always support. “#BeyondPerimeters” is the project enabled by the special company Sercop of Rho that wants to get over traditional boundaries of social intervention – reaching those who are unable to ask…

The past few years have forced Italian society to deal with new forms of poverty, new hardships and therefore new demands of social intervention that existing structures couldn’t always support. “#BeyondPerimeters” is the project enabled by the special company Sercop of Rho that wants to get over traditional boundaries of social intervention – reaching those who are unable to ask for help due to sudden economic change – and propose specific solutions to these problems. After having identified some of the main strands, “Beyond perimeters” proposed a targeted project, built through research and the convergence of different partners. Through the identification of housing solutions with controlled rents, customized consulting solutions for the management of asset, family life and work, simplifying and directing the expansion of personal resources.

“Even meeting places needs to be reconsidered – says Oliviero Matta, head of the project – that’s why #opcafè are born as passageways, also for socializing and meeting and to answer some issues. The project, started in May 2015 and still in a consolidation phase, has already showed positive results, especially in terms of community consolidation over a sense of unity. We expect to develop a user base too, which can respond to home, family and work needs. The objective is to work on a welfare model that might be public and generative, cultivating resources to connect and nourish positive dynamics”.

The collaboration is bound among banking foundations, cooperatives and nine districts of Milan hinterland, through a constant fundraising and Sercop coordination, the special company of Roh Municipalities.

Watch the video.

 

Mammut Cultural Centre

Mammut Cultural Centre

From pedagogy, the educational experience growing by leaps and bounds
‘O Mammut is a strange and large porch with six columns in Piazza Giovanni Paolo II in Scampia, Naples. In 2007, from the experience of the Territorial Centre in Scampia together with Compare (social promotion association) the research center come to life. It’s a difficult territorial context, everybody knows that. But over the years, Mammut sought a new way of…

‘O Mammut is a strange and large porch with six columns in Piazza Giovanni Paolo II in Scampia, Naples. In 2007, from the experience of the Territorial Centre in Scampia together with Compare (social promotion association) the research center come to life. It’s a difficult territorial context, everybody knows that. But over the years, Mammut sought a new way of creating specific forms of sociability for all ages, combining educational research, zoning, theater and visual arts: from children’s workshops to educational support for teenagers, from the guidance center to the homeopathic medicine clinic, from the Ciclofficina to the Italian school for immigrants, always extending their knowledge and involving organizations of different regions, therefore leading to some editorial publications.

Mammut is also a training school which feeds social experimentation at school with ideas and stimuli, providing theoretical and practical tools. The social context of the city of Naples allowed to work on projects aimed to the involvement of migrants and rom, foreigners and Italians, in a very multicultural context, and hence highly stimulating as well as complicated.

The power of the pedagogical approach and the fierce desire to cultivate social relations, in a new and lasting way, has allowed the consolidation of an experience made up of people, but also of places. Streets and squares went back to the community.

Centro Territoriale Mammut -Piazza Giovanni Paolo II, 3/6, Napoli
www.mammutnapoli.org – 
aps.compare@gmail.com – Pagina Facebook

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