Strengthening civil society is one of the most important areas in the Un Ponte Per strategy. The aim of this project is to enable civil society organisations in Iraq to have a greater impact on the promotion of human and environmental rights, to respond to the needs of their communities and to cooperate with local and national authorities.
Through technical support, Un Ponte Per intends to strengthen the tools already existing within Iraqi civil society organisations to make their work more effective at local and national level, through the development of recommendations to the authorities for the preservation of the environmental heritage, particularly in southern Iraq.
The youth population in Jordan, despite high levels of vocational training, suffers from a high unemployment rate. Building resilience, through access to the labour market, has become crucial in order to try to bridge the gap between youth preparation and labour supply: this is why it is necessary to intervene with specific training courses that meet the needs of the market. In this sense, Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) courses are a way to facilitate the transition between education and entry into the labour market by ensuring economic inclusion for the youth population.
After the excellent results of the first phase, this second phase of the Furas (Opportunity) project, funded by the Direct Aid Programme (DAP) of the Australian Embassy, also fits into this framework, targeting again the most vulnerable youth population in the Russeifa area, Zarqa Governorate, and in particular the female population. In fact, women in the area are too often forced to accept 'informal jobs', which are poorly paid and expose them to gender-based violence. The aim of the Furas 2 project is to facilitate access to the world of work - to secure and dignified employment - for young women from the Jordanian host community and the Syrian refugee community, through education, vocational training and peacebuilding activities.
Civil Peace Corps (CCPs) are groups of peace workers who intervene as third parties, through civil, unarmed and non-violent action, to support local actors in conflict prevention and transformation. The operators of Un Ponte Per CCPs intervene, abroad and in Italy, in territories of conflict or where conflicts caused by environmental emergencies are expected to break out. Their deployment can be envisaged when the conflict is still latent, in a preventive function, when the conflict has already flared up, in a non-violent transformation and civil peacekeeping function, and in the post-conflict phase, in peacebuilding activities, to help rebuild the social fabric.
One of the contexts in Italy where an environmental emergency with these characteristics has emerged is Campania, in the area called 'Terra dei Fuochi', located between the Campania provinces of Naples and Caserta, characterised by the strong presence of toxic waste and, above all, numerous waste fires. There are currently 92 municipalities in Campania that are included in the 'Terra dei Fuochi' territory. These are those municipalities that have joined the so-called 'Terra dei Fuochi Pact', under which the first citizens have signed a document in which they undertake to adopt measures to combat the phenomenon of waste abandoned on roads and public areas or areas subject to public use; and to take action for the timely removal of waste.
The aim of the 'Civil Peace Corps in the Land of Fires' project is to contribute to improving the quality of life of citizens living in the area by providing for the involvement and active participation of the local population. The main fields of action the project intends to affect are:
The PCCs proposed to the 'Terra dei Fuochi' Steering Committee of the Prefecture of Naples a project to combat illegal waste dumping by implementing a pilot strategy in the municipalities of Acerra, Brusciano and Bacoli. In cooperation with the Deputy Prefect, targeted actions will be carried out in the Giugliano area.
The CCPs have already worked to create a network of committees, associations, civic observatories and active citizens in the Giugliano area to understand what the critical issues are, to collect solutions and proposals, and to liaise with the 'Terra dei Fuochi' steering committee of the Prefecture. They also worked on a new version of the audit addressed to municipal bodies, aiming at a more qualitative and quantitative data collection.
At the same time, an awareness-raising campaign was launched on social media through the creation of short videos on the terra dei fuochi theme.
The direct beneficiaries of the project's activities are the municipalities of the terra dei fuochi, for which monitoring activities are being intensified; the families of the municipalities, who will be reached by massive information on events, data accuracy, scientific developments, results, opportunities; the population of the municipalities, who will benefit from ad hoc meetings and targeted information, especially on development policies; the Region's agri-food products, for which promotion and dissemination paths will be activated.
A new project, financed by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), to respond to the crisis in Ukraine, led by the Bukovinian Agency for Initiative and Development (BAID), and implemented by Un Ponte Per, Institute for Peace and Common Ground IPCG in Ukraine, and Peace Action, Training and Research Institute of Romania (PATRIR), in Romania, is kicking off.
The aim of the intervention is to promote social inclusion and the strengthening of cohesion between Ukrainian communities in Ukraine, as well as the inclusion of Ukrainian refugees in Romania, thus contributing to stability and harmony in the region.
The initiative aims to promote protection, education and social cohesion in Ukraine and Romania, with a focus on displaced communities. Spaces for dialogue and psycho-social support will be created for the development of sustainable and safer communities, facilitating access to education, mental health services and life-saving information on the risks of explosive devices. In addition, processes of recovery and strengthening of social dynamics and relationships in communities or societies affected by the conflict and crisis will be facilitated. A total of 13,846 people between the ages of 1 and 90 will directly benefit from the intervention. Among them are 4,478 minors, of whom 2,572 are girls and girls, and 9,368 adults, of whom 5,522 are women.
The areas of intervention include several regions of Ukraine, including the Oblasts of Chernihiv, Mykolayiv, Kherson, Dnipro and Kharkiv, along with Cluj-Napoca and surrounding rural areas in Romania. The main beneficiaries of this project are Ukrainian residents, internally displaced persons and Ukrainian refugees in Romania.
Expected outcomes include the creation of dialogue initiative groups, improvements in mental health, increased knowledge of protection measures and greater integration into Romanian society for Ukrainian refugees. In addition to addressing immediate needs, the project aims to promote long-term resilience and integration by fostering a sense of community and mutual understanding across borders. Through collaborative efforts, this initiative aims to create lasting positive impacts on the social fabric of both countries.
A new project by Un Ponte Per in the municipality of Monza is kicking off: "Resistance is woman: on the tracks of Angela and Lea", which will take place in the San Fruttuoso district of Monza. The aim of the project is to make known the places in the neighbourhood dedicated to the partisan Angela Ronchi and the innocent mafia victim Lea Garofalo, symbolic women of the resistance; to make young people know the stories of the two women and to involve students in non-formal education workshops on the themes of legality and social justice, democracy, solidarity, and the role of women in society.
The project will target young people under 35, male and female students of the Hensemberger and Nanni Valentini secondary schools in Monza, and envisages the realisation of 8 public events on the figure of Angela Ronchi, 8 on that of Lea Garofalo, involving at least 300 young people.
This will be complemented by more than 200 hours of workshops in the two schools, ranging from non-formal education to slam poetry, from mural making to contests on the theme of preventing gender-based violence.
The project will be managed by Un Ponte Per through its local committee in Milan and Monza, thanks to the collaboration with numerous realities including Libera. Associazioni, nomi e numeri contro le Mafie, ETS Lateres - Dinamiche Creative Diffuse and CADOM - Centro Aiuto Donne Maltrattate.
The Sports for Peace Multipurpose Centre was born in 2019, thanks to the impulse of some activists of Un Ponte Per with the aim of creating a meeting place within the Palestinian camp of Shatila, in Beirut, Lebanon, where it would be possible to practice sports activities and offer an alternative for many boys and girls to the difficult reality of the camp. Shatila, in fact, is one of the most overcrowded places on the planet, where there are no municipal services and youth discomfort reaches alarming levels.
In the centre, activities are promoted ranging from sports to cultural events, to raising awareness on health and nutrition issues: specifically, recreational and sports activities, women's self-defence courses, as well as cultural events, school and after-school support activities, workshops for women, sports medical examinations and nutritional advice are organised. Animating these activities are the Basket Beats Borders, a men's and women's basketball team that originated within Shatila but is now famous far beyond the borders of the camp, and the Palestinian Youth Club, a popular sports club.
The centre occupies a space consisting of three rooms totalling about 90 square metres, with the possibility of it being expanded in the future, and is maintained thanks to the solidarity of many people and popular sports realities, with which Un Ponte Per promotes moments of exchange and encounter.
A new Un Ponte Per project kicks off in the Brianza area, where the organisation has been working for years with non-formal education and Peace Education projects.
The aim of this intervention is to improve the quality of educational services for young peopleə in the Seregno and Meda areas, to increase the educational offer of the Giuseppe Parini State Humanistic High School in Seregno and the State Professional Institute for Commercial and Tourist Services in Meda.
The project "A Bridge to School in Brianza. Patti Educativi di Comunità' (Community Educational Pacts) will be aimed at children between the ages of 14 and 17, proposing an expansion of the educational offer and an improvement in the quality of educational services through non-formal education workshops using art, sport, play, and raising awareness of fundamental issues such as the fight against the mafia. The proposed activities will range from social circus workshops to murals, from poetry slam to theatre and comics.
The whole project will be carried out in collaboration with Parada Italia ODV, Arci Scuotivento Lateres ETS, La Scatola dei Pensieri, Libera. Associations, Names and Numbers against the Mafias.
The 'Mubadara' project (Initiative) aims to strengthen various civil society organisations in Iraq so that they can act in the development sector. In particular, it will support the creation of an inclusive environment for civil society in Iraq, encouraging youth participation and working on legislative and operational frameworks.
Monitoring, coordination, networking will also be carried out to ensure the conditions of viability and security for civil society. Active cooperation between civil society organisations will be encouraged, involving them in the country's development process at local and national levels.
Strengthening civil society is one of the most important areas in the Un Ponte Per strategy. The aim of this project is to enable civil society organisations in Iraq to have a greater impact on the promotion of human and environmental rights, to respond to the needs of their communities and to cooperate with local and national authorities.
Through workshops, consultancy, specialised professional training courses on good governance, financial administration, project management, fundraising and proposal writing, Tafa'ul aims to provide civil society organisations with the necessary tools to be able to operate effectively at local and national level.
'Books without Borders' is an intervention that aims to support and ensure access to education and psychosocial support for the most vulnerable youth populations in the area of north-eastern Syria and the city of Raqqa, which is still severely affected by the war.
Through the creation of small, interactive 'travelling libraries', designed and built specifically for the Syrian context by the French organisation Bibliothèques Sans Frontières, the project leader, and thanks to the collaboration with the local partner DOZ, Un Ponte Per aims to reach 6,000 children aged between 6 and 17 in the city of Raqqa and displaced elsewhere, and in the Protection Centres for Women and Minors that UPP has built in the area.
In addition to them, 50 educational professionals will be trained in the use and implementation of travelling libraries.
