In the context of the Syrian conflict, local institutions in the north-east have been working for some time to ensure the strengthening of protection systems for the population. Among these, environmental and ecological protection is one of the main axes of engagement in the region, to ensure ecological sustainability through the strengthening of the waste management system - including sanitation - at the local and regional level. Since 2019, Un Ponte Per has been engaged in this area together with its local partners.
'Nifayat at-Tubiya' is a new intervention that aims to consolidate the medical waste management system in north-eastern Syria by expanding the competencies with respect to the management of resources, especially water, and waste in all health facilities in the area.
Activities are carried out in cooperation with the Kurdish Red Crescent (KRC), local authorities in the NES (Jazeera Region - DoLAE; Department of Health of Jazeera Region - DoH; Raqqa Committee of Health - CoH) and local municipalities.
"Asiti" aims to ensure the protection of internally displaced young people and women in the North-Eastern area of Syria through training on Gender Based Violence (GBV) issues within the Mala Jin (Women's Houses) in the area, specifically in Al-Jazeera Canton and Al-Hasek Governorate.
Led by the partner organisation Novact, Un Ponte Per will provide training to female workers to ensure protection and prevention from gender-based violence.
The specific objective of the intervention is the strengthening of skills in the resolution of situations of violence; direct support to Mala Jin, and work to raise awareness and promote human rights and women's rights in humanitarian crisis contexts, such as Syria, targeting the displaced and host population of youth and women.
The action aims to improve access to protection services for the most vulnerable groups among refugee and host communities in Jordan. The project includes the strengthening of basic social services: integrated case management services, psychosocial support and mental health, safe spaces for the empowerment of youth, women, caregivers and people with disabilities, legal assistance and rehabilitation, and economic support for vulnerable groups.
The initiative aims to strengthen the response capacities of local actors through a training plan for the staff of partner associations that includes modules on child protection, women's protection, gender-based violence and psychosocial support. The ultimate goal is the promotion of self-sufficiency and psychosocial well-being of people with vulnerabilities and their families, minors at risk and women survivors of gender-based violence.
Project partners are Our Step Association for Mental Health, Al Duleil Women Special Education Society, Athar for Youth Development Society, Solidarity is Global Institute Jordan (SIGI), Jordan Paralympic Committee (JPC).
In the context of the Syrian conflict, local institutions in the north-east have been working for some time to ensure the strengthening of protection systems for the population. Among these, environmental and ecological protection is one of the main axes of engagement in the region, to ensure ecological sustainability through the strengthening of the waste management system - including sanitation - at local and regional levels. Since 2019, Un Ponte Per, together with its local partner Kurdish Red Crescent (KRC), the local authorities and thanks to the support of the Area Mertopolitana de Barcelona (AMB) and the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, has been promoting training activities that have laid the foundations for the first pilot project for waste recycling at municipal level in north-east Syria.
The objective of this intervention is to contribute to the protection of environmental rights and the right to health for the local population, through capacity-building of local administrations and awareness-raising of citizens on environmental and recycling issues. In particular, logistical and technical support will be provided to the Municipality of Hasakeh, which will be accompanied by Un Ponte Per throughout 2023, to strengthen and expand the door-to-door waste collection system, launched in the al-Mufti district of the city in 2022, also involving the population and private companies and cooperatives already working in the recycling sector.
This will be realised within the framework of two integrated projects entitled 'Zero Watse' and 'Gemar Zero' (both meaning 'Zero Waste' in English and Kurdish respectively), thanks to the continued support of AMB and the new contribution of the Prosolidar Foundation.
Un Ponte Per's intervention continues with the project 'Health Waste Management and Recycling in North East Syria' - funded by the Barcelona Metropolitan Area - which started in 2019 and is now in its 6th phase, ending in 2023. The intervention is aimed at the proper management and storage of health waste in North East Syria, providing training, materials and support to as many as 47 health facilities (both primary health centres and hospitals) in the governorates of Hasakeh, Raqqa and Aleppo.
The intervention aims to further strengthen - thanks to the synergy with the local partner organisation Kurdish Red Crescent (KRC) and the local authorities - the capacity system on the ground to protect the health and environmental rights of the population in north-eastern Syria by consolidating and expanding the system of medical waste management, including expired medicines.
The project complements other Un Ponte Per initiatives in the region, first and foremost to promote a reduction in waste creation and encourage recycling and circular economy activities.
The economy of Ukraine in the immediate future will be focused on the response to the military invasion. Fifty per cent of the national budget will be invested in military spending. Consequently, investments in the educational, social and youth sectors will be reduced. Civil societies and local organisations need support and the creation of links with their European counterparts, in order to increase their capacities with the experience of European organisations.
The aim of the project is therefore to strengthen the network of European solidarity towards Ukrainian civil society and to contribute to the development of local organisations through a detailed analysis of youth conditions in the country in the light of the conflict and a series of youth exchanges between Ukrainian and European youth delegations.
Together with the Ukrainian Leadership Academy (ULA) and Collegium Civitas, Un Ponte Per will endeavour to provide European civil society organisations and European institutions (Parliament, Commission) with detailed background information; organise youth exchanges through Ukrainian delegations that will travel to Brussels and other European cities; and delegations of young Europeans that will travel to Ukraine.
"The Wave. Waves rise, grow, change things. Then everything goes back to the way it was before... but it is no longer the same thing': this is the name of the new project that kicks off in February 2023 in Milan, in which Un Ponte Per is participating together with other associations rooted in the Lombardy region (Lo Scrigno, Libera Associazione contro le mafie, Saveria Antiochia Osservatorio Antimafia, Associazione Kayros).
The aim of the project is to carry out in 18 secondary schools located in 9 Milanese municipalities an information and awareness course to transmit to studentsə the culture of legality, civic responsibility and the fight against mafia phenomena.
The activities will begin in February 2023 and continue until July 2023 in partnership with associations strongly committed to spreading a culture of legality and combating mafias through interventions aimed at minors and adults, of an educational, informative and training nature and preserving the memory of innocent victims.
More specifically, the project plans to address the theme of legality through expressive, artistic and theatrical workshop methodologies, the use of storytelling, role-playing and peer-to-peer testimonies. The main objectives are to promote a culture of ethical and civic responsibility and to transmit values and cultural models for combating mafias. Activities will also be carried out outside school hours and outside schools, using spaces confiscated from the mafia and in use for social projects, where present.
The activities proposed by UPP within the identified schools consist of workshops to be held between April and June, which will be agreed with the Libera association and will focus on the theme of legality, civic responsibility and the fight against mafia phenomena.
Summer campuses are also planned that will engage young people in artistic and sporting activities, implementing the reflection on the themes already initiated in the workshops carried out in the classrooms.
"GRE(e)AT LAB - Gratosoglio: educational workshops of art and talent" is a project that was born in a context of great uncertainty, in a historical phase dominated by a global health emergency that has seen the closure of schools, to which have been added the last months of 2022 dominated by a world crisis that has brought the theme of war back to the centre of society's discourse, with the violent images of fighting that have invaded televisions and social networks, and with important economic repercussions for Italian families due to the energy crisis and the general increase in prices, which makes the lives of those living in precariousness even more complex.
In this context, the sense of bewilderment of the younger segments of the population has increased considerably and the problems are exacerbated in peripheral areas, where public services and institutions find it harder to respond to the many needs present and the risk of pockets of marginalisation is higher. Organisations play an important role by offering their experience and solidaristic nature so that together we can respond to the new needs, especially the educational ones.
The project aims to improve the quality of educational services for children and young people in the Gratosoglio neighbourhood in Milan, through non-formal education workshops using art, sport, play and raising awareness on fundamental issues such as the environment and the mafia phenomenon addressed to a school, educational centres and parishes in the area, with the involvement of 1,250 children and young people. The main activities will be the organisation of an interactive exhibition on prejudice 'The Others are Us', the use of cooperative games, social circus workshops, comics, murals, poetry slam and clownerie.
The GRE(e)AT LAB- Gratosoglio project is managed by Un Ponte Per with a wide network of partners and service providers who have been carrying out activities in the Milan area for years: Parada Italia Onlus, Libera. Associazioni, Nomi e Numeri contro le Mafie, CSV Milano- ETS, Lo Scrigno Società Cooperativa Sociale- Onlus, Casa per la Pace Milano, Arci Bellezza, ClownOne, SocialTime and Legambiente.
Starting in January 2023 and for 20 months, the project "Programme for Resilience and Return in the Governorate of Nineveh through an integrated approach in the educational, health and socio-cultural sectors" funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) aims to improve access and quality of education and health services in the Governorate of Nineveh, helping to support communities displaced and returned after the Islamic State (Daesh) occupation, particularly in the districts of Mosul and Sinjar.
In agreement with national and local partners, Un Ponte Per has selected 3 schools in Sinjar that will be supported through renovation of the buildings and/or provision of essential school equipment and materials. The schools are the "Al Quds" in Tal Qassab, the "Al Mahabba" in Tal Qassab, and the "Mohammed Al Qasim" in Sinjar. In terms of healthcare, in Mosul UPP will provide medical equipment for the delivery room and operating theatre of the maternity ward of the "Mosul General Hospital" and rehabilitate the "Hermat" clinic. While in Sinjar UPP will provide basic health services in the Sinuni hospital. Here, it will focus in particular on training and recruiting specialised medical staff for the gynaecology and obstetrics department, making it operational 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Finally, at the primary health clinic in Tal Banat, UPP will support the operation of an outpatient sexual and reproductive health service. All facilities will be equipped with basic medical equipment, selected on the basis of a local needs analysis.
The project partners are AVSI (Italy), FOCSIV (Italy), YBDO (Iraq).
In the summer of 2018, thanks to the support of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), a wide-ranging programme of interventions in the health field called "Darna, Our Home. Support to maternal and child services for the city of Raqqa and its province", implemented by Un Ponte Per (UPP) together with its local partners, the Kurdish Red Crescent (KRC) and DOZ.
In 2023, the project entered its fifth phase, which will continue until 2024 to allow this time to support the 'Al Rasheed' clinic in Raqqa, in order to address the shortage of healthcare facilities in the area. The clinic will provide primary, neonatal and paediatric healthcare 24/7 and its services will be available to more than 34,000 people. The population will also be provided with psycho-social support, specialised protection services for women and children at risk of violence, and social inclusion for people with disabilities.
In 2022, Darna Phase IV allowed UPP to intervene in support of the Al Hilal National Hospital in Raqqa, with direct support to the hospital's reproductive health activities and the training of health personnel on reproductive and neonatal health issues. The hospital was fully rehabilitated and a paediatric ward was built. The works were completed in September 2022 and the handover of the hospital to the Local Health Committee took place. The works resulted in the construction of 80 beds for minors, 1 nursery with 10 cots, a radiology department, paediatric analysis laboratories, two paediatric outpatient clinics, an emergency paediatric surgery department and an ambulance service.
Over the years, phases I, II and III of 'Darna' enabled UPP to restore primary health services in western Raqqa to ensure first aid and safe return to the city for families wishing to do so after liberation from Daesh (Islamic State). Inter-agency protection and health services were improved and guaranteed, and places and services for the prevention of gender-based violence were established.
Three Safe Spaces have also been set up in Raqqa, dedicated to women, adolescents and minors who have survived or are at risk of gender-based violence, with protection and psychological support activities. At the same time, UPP has always guaranteed first-aid and transport services with highly equipped ambulances, staffed by paramedics and nurses it has trained over the years, capable of intervening in emergencies and stabilising patients during their transfer to hospitals.
