Our partners in Italy ...

A.I.F.O. ( Associazione Italiana Amici di Raoul Follereau) is a NGO established in 1961 thanks to spontaneous groups of volunteers involved in the struggle against leprosy and all forms of leprosy, encompassing all extreme articulations of injustice and marginalization. AIFO has maintained its popular dimension through the contribution of dozens of groups in Italy and hundreds of volunteers. The organization promotes and runs various activities including: the prevention, care and rehabilitation of individuals affected by Hansen’s disease; basic health actions aiming to ensuring services for the vulnerable; projects of rehabilitation and social reintegration for people with disabilities realized through the RBC framework; interventions for children who have been prevented from living their childhood; educational and training activities seeking to promote solidarity relations among populations and foster solidarity.

F.I.S.H. Onlus (Federazione Italiana per il Superamento dell’Handicap) is an umbrella organization established in 1994. Some of the leading associations committed to the diffusion of policies regarding the inclusion of people with disabilities have subscribed to FISH. Through the adoption of the innovative tridimensional (biologic-psychic-social) approach towards disability, opposed to the obsolete framework which reduced disability to a mere medical phenomenon reiterating prejudice and marginalization, FISH seeks to promote inclusion and equal opportunities in every sphere of life. The organization prioritizes the interventions on situations of individuals with rare or complex disabilities due to the fact that they are not always capable of making themselves heard and their families need particular support.

D.P.I. (Disabled People’s International) Italia Onlus was founded on the 16th of October of 1994, despite being a provisory member of DPI since 1990. The organization is made up of 14 associations promoting and defending the human and civil rights of people with disabilities and those of their families, territorial committees from some Italian regions and individuals who subscribe to the organization as affiliates. The charter decrees that only organizations whose administration and affiliates are constituted mainly by people with disabilities can become member of the association.

NEXUS  Emilia Romagna is the institute for development cooperation promoted by CGIL Emilia Romagna. Born in 1993, it was recognized as NGO by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2007. Nexus operates in the international arena in order to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life and to strengthen democratic institutions, respecting cultural diversities and the principle of self-determination of populations. Nexus currently works in Africa, the Balkans, Latin America and in the Occupied Territories of Palestine.

TERRE DES HOMMES Italia: To protect children from any form of violence or abuse, to guarantee every child the rights of health, education and life have constituted the structural missions of Terre des Hommes since 1960, when a group of people oriented by Edmond Kaiser founded the organization in Lausanne. Throughout the decades it has eventually become one of the biggest movement for the defense of children’s rights in the World. Terre des Hommes Italia was born in 1989 and became Foundation in 1994; it runs tangible projects, tailored to the needs of the children and their communities. At present, it operates in 21 countries and supports 74 projects with its partners often employing local staff.

The Italian committee for UNICEF – Onlus (often abbreviated as UNICEF Italia) is part of the global structure of UNICEF – United Nation Fund for Childhood, the subsidiary body of UN, which seeks to guarantee and promote children’s and adolescents’ rights (0-18 years old) all over the world and to contribute to the improvement of their life conditions. The most striking peculiarity of the organization is being an Italian NGO and a representative of the inter-governmental UN program at the same time. As NGO, UNICEF Italia benefits also the status of Onlus – non-profit organization of social utility. In addition, UNICEF Italia operates in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Millennium Development Goals.

COSPE (Cooperazione per lo Sviluppo dei Paesi Emergenti) is a private, laic and nonprofit organization. Founded in 1983, it operates in the Global South, in Italy and in Europe fostering intercultural dialogue, equal and sustainable development, the respect of human rights, the promotion of peace and justice among people. Today COSPE is involved in the realization of more than 100 projects in about 30 countries around the World.

AMANI , meaning “peace” in Kiswahili language, is a laic association established in 1995 by the Combonian missioner Renato Kizito Sesana. Amani has been recognized as NGO by the Ministry of Social Affairs. The activities run by Amani in Africa include the cure and the education of the most marginalized kids in Kenya, Zambia and Sudan. The activities promoted by the organization are inspired by two core principles:
1.  To ensure that local qualified staff is in charge the management of every project and initiative on the African territory;
2.  To guarantee a slim organizational structure to contain the costs to be covered by donors.
Many Amani interventions arise directly from the inspiration of the Koinonia Community, an African organization which is deeply rooted in the territory.

PEACE GAMES is a NGO created by UISP in 1990. It seeks to promote and support humanitarian initiatives and actions of development cooperation, carried out by territorial Committees and Leagues in the South of the World and in East Europe. The mission of Peace Games is to
valorize sports as an instrument of growth and networking in the developing societies. The projects propose sports activities as a tool of communication and coexistence in societies torn by conflicts or as an integration instrument for the educational activities in the developing countries. Peace Games projects address vulnerable categories like children, individuals with disabilities and the elderly. In particular, young people are thought to be receptive individuals capable of strengthening and conveying positive messages.

Soleterre is a non-profit foundation working for the full recognition and achievement of the Right for Health in its broader meaning. For this reason, besides granting medical assistance and healthcare, Soleterre is committed to the protection and promotion of the psychophysical wellness for everyone in the world, both individuals and groups, men or women of every age. A key aspect in Soleterre's activity is preventing, reporting and fighting inequalities and violence of every kind, because promoting health also means promoting social justice.

Overseas is a non-profit association founded in 1971. The goal of the association is to promote the full development of communities outside Europe. To achieve this goal, the association implements cooperation projects, supports local NGOs or Community-based organization working on local development, selects and trains individual willing to participate in the association's projects.

The Regional Centre for Intervention in Cooperation (CRIC) has been working since 1983 in Italy and in the Global South in the field of international cooperation and solidarity, which they interpret as a form of exchange and reciprocity between different social, cultural and economic realities. CRIC has begun its activity implementing cooperation projects for local development in Central and South America. Since 1987 it has been promoting support project for people threatened by major conflicts, working in Palestine (since 1987), in the Balkan area (1992), in the Horn of Africa (1990) in order to provide relief and solidarity towards the people most affected.

GVC is a non-governmental, secular, and independent organization, founded in Bologna in 1971. We carry out humanitarian aid and sustainable development cooperation projects to guarantee access to clean water, food, health services, education and work, for communities all over the world. In emergency contexts, we build the foundations for reconstruction and development. GVC always works to ensure the respect and recognition of fundamental rights, fighting poverty and social inequality by working with individuals, communities, local authorities and governments. Strengthening the resilience of communities is our common goal.

punto.sud is a non-profit organization working worldwide in the field of humanitarian aid, international development cooperation and migration. Its main objectives are to contribute to strengthening and improving the quality of life of the most vulnerable populations in the world as well as those who have immigrated to Europe and to open new oportunities to widen people’s choices.

The Department of Education “Giovanni Maria Bertin” of University of Bologna carries on activities of teaching and researching with a multi- and interdisciplinary approach. Its main fields of work are educational process in schools, outside schools and in professional trainings; life-long learning towards the development of individual and social skills, with a particular focus on the topic of differences; the person’s wellness and the prevention of situations of hardships.

The Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism of University of Macerata was created in July 2012 from the fusion of the Faculties of Education and Cultural Heritage with the Departments of Education and Training and Cultural Heritage. The Department is strongly committed to a process of internationalization both in its teaching (through the activation of jointed degrees and the presence of foreign teachers in the institute), and in research (through the participation in a higher number of European projects and international research groups). As regards research, the Department develops around four sections:Pedagogy, Environment and Territory, Cultural Heritage, Human Being, Society and Lauguages