Press release

"Gr(E)at Lab": Non-formal education intervention in the Gratosoglio (MI) district kicks off

A project to improve the quality of education based on non-formal education has started in Milan, promoted by a network of associations coordinated by the Italian NGO Un Ponte Per and financed by the Milan Community Foundation.

Milan, 14 April 2023 - Entitled "Gr(E)at Lab - Gratosoglio: educational workshops on art and talent", this is the new project launched by the Italian NGO Un Ponte Per in the Gratosoglio district of Milan to improve the quality of educational services for children and young people through non-formal education workshops on fundamental issues such as respect for the environment and the fight against the mafia.

The activities - which have just started in the Youth Aggregation Centre managed by Lo Scrigno Società Cooperativa Sociale-Onlus, and will soon involve the youth centre of the Piccolo Principe Association, the Parish of San Barnaba and the Istituto Comprensivo Statale Arcadia - aim to reach 1,250 children and young people thanks to the collaboration with a wide network of organisations that have been working in the Milan area for years. These include Parada Italia Onlus, Libera. Associazioni, Nomi e Numeri contro le Mafie, CSV Milano- ETS, Casa per la Pace Milano, Arci Bellezza, ClownOne, SocialTime and Legambiente.

The project aims to improve the quality of educational services for children and young people in the Gratosoglio neighbourhood, through non-formal education workshops using art, sport, play and clownery.

The main activities include the organisation of an interactive exhibition on prejudice entitled 'The others are us'; the use of cooperative games, social circus workshops, comics, murals, poetry slam and clownery.

The idea of the intervention was born in a context of great uncertainty, in a historical phase dominated by a global health emergency that saw the closure of schools, to which were added the last months of 2022 dominated by a world crisis that brought the theme of war back to the centre of public debate.

In this context, the sense of bewilderment of the youngest segments of the population has increased and the problems are exacerbated in peripheral areas, where public services and institutions struggle more to respond to the many needs present and the risk of pockets of marginalisation is higher.

Organisations then play an important role by making their experience and solidaristic nature available so that together we can respond to the new needs, especially the educational ones.

Theleader of this association network is Un Ponte Per, a non-governmental organisation that has been working for over 30 years in Italy, the Balkans and the Middle East with programmes of international cooperation and solidarity with the aim of promoting peace, human rights, preventing new conflicts and working in various fields: education, health, humanitarian, cultural, dialogue building and social cohesion.

Already active with numerous non-formal education projects in the Milan area, Un Ponte Per will carry out this new intervention thanks to the work on the territory of its local committee.