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Starting in September 2024, the Online Training Course: “Project Design and Strategic Planning” invites youth and professionals to participate in an enriching experience aimed at promoting social inclusion in the Mediterranean region and fostering exchanges between Africa and Europe. This innovative initiative, powered by the M.E.D.I.T.erraNEW and AFR.E.S.H projects, seeks to equip participants with essential skills to design impactful and sustainable social projects.

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Who Can Join?

While the primary participants include staff and volunteers from partner organizations, the training is open to a wider audience, including:

• Staff from the International Focolare Movement Center (MdF)
• Regional project development offices
• Youth centers and dialogue coordinators
• Educators, young professionals, and staff from other social organizations interested in enhancing their skills.

Training Goals

• Learn how to enhance the sustainability of their organizations and improve youth inclusion.
• Develop a strategic mindset for project design.
• Strengthen their ability to prepare high-quality project proposals.
• Gain skills to act as multipliers, sharing knowledge within their networks.
• Identify additional training needs for future learning opportunities.
• Build capacity for effective networking and collaboration.

Course Structure

• Phase 1 (2 sessions): An introduction to strategic planning and project design, exploring the general concepts and their interconnection.
• Phase 2 (4 sessions): A deep dive into project evaluation, impact assessment, and advocacy, focusing on how to influence local and international institutions.
• Phase 3 (5 sessions): Detailed analysis of individual project phases, providing hands-on learning opportunities.

Language and Accessibility

While the training will primarily be conducted in Italian, modules will be available in English, French, Spanish, Croatian, Portuguese and Arabic. 

Course Logistics

• Schedule: The first two phases will take place in the evenings from 7:15 PM to 9:15 PM (CET), while the third phase will be held in the afternoons from 1:45 PM to 3:45 PM (CET).
• Platform: Sessions will be conducted via Zoom, with materials and recordings available on a shared Drive.

Costs and Registration

The training is free for staff and volunteers from partner organizations in the M.E.D.I.T.erraNEW and AFR.E.S.H projects. It is also free for participants from non-EU countries. For other European participants not affiliated with partner organizations, there is a nominal fee of €15. Registration and payment details will be provided upon sign-up.

Certification

Participants who attend at least 80% of the sessions will receive a certificate of participation from New Humanity. Additionally, participants under 30 years old will receive a Youthpass certificate, validated by the European Union.

Sign Up Now! Register here. 

Join us in shaping a brighter future for youth across the Mediterranean through the Online Training Course: “Project Design and Strategic Planning”!

L'articolo Introducing the Online Training Course: “Project Design and Strategic Planning” proviene da New Humanity.

From May 30 to June 2 in Castel Gandolfo (RM), the second of three job shadowing meetings was held as part of the Erasmus+ project “M.E.D.I.T.erraNEW,” with the participation of educational partners from France, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Egypt, and Lebanon.

The project aims to facilitate a pedagogical exchange between associations from Mediterranean countries working with youths aged 13 to 17, focusing on minors with a migratory background. The goal is to renew and enhance educational programs in a multidisciplinary and integrated manner and to implement them for the benefit of the young people in contact with these organizations. 

During the meeting, work sessions on the presentation and exchange of methodologies opened with the integration of minors with a migratory background. Azione Famiglie Nuove presented the “Fare Sistema Oltre l’Accoglienza” (FSOA) project, a program of social and occupational inclusion. Significant were the testimonies of Steve and Mamhou, respectively an educator at Casa Ismaele in Calabria, and a young person previously accommodated there. They highlighted key aspects such as the importance of welcoming, accepting differences, building support networks in the community, and especially a personalized intervention approach for each foreign minor under their care, with whom an individualized educational pact is carried out. This tool was appreciated by all educators present. The narratives showed how understanding others leads to overcoming prejudices and stereotypes, forming the basis for effective inclusion. Additionally, the effectiveness of the peer-to-peer methodology implemented by already integrated young foreigners towards their peers was highlighted.

Educational programs on peace education and active citizenship were then presented, including the international project “Living Peace” and the methodology “Six Steps for One Goal” (6X1), inspired by Service Learning. These are promoted in schools and other informal educational settings for youth in many countries. The proposed pedagogical tools led to shared work and a commitment to apply these methods in various contexts, with active participation of young people, creating exchange relationships, dialogue, and conflict resolution.

The testimonies of some young peace ambassadors were a moment of great involvement, demonstrating how peace starts from each individual and begins with small daily actions that every young person can take, with amplified impacts in their living context.

The following days were dedicated to intercultural and interreligious dialogue, through sharing methodologies and best practices that value dialogue, respect for others’ beliefs, and building relationships based on the Golden Rule found in major faiths, summarized as “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Facilitated by the context of the international symposium “One Human Family,” which included over 400 participants – Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Baha’is, and representatives of traditional African religions – the role of religions in weaving bonds of fraternity was highlighted. Testimonies from people in different conflict contexts demonstrated that engaging with others transforms many polarizations into supportive human relationships.

Discussions with educators addressed current issues such as the impact of new technologies and artificial intelligence on dialogue with new generations, and economic and environmental sustainability. The ongoing exchange of methodological approaches and between educators from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds has strengthened the intercultural competencies necessary for the interweaving of peoples and cultures in the Mediterranean. It has laid the foundation for more effective educational action for young people, based on an approach that better meets their needs and requirements.

Collaboration, network creation, organizational growth, and the enhancement of intercultural and interreligious dialogue emerged as key elements for creating a spirit of fraternity and peace in the Mediterranean basin.

Discover the project: https://www.new-humanity.org/project/mediterranew/

Lead organization: Centro Internazionale Studenti Giorgio La Pira – Fondazione.

Project partners: New Humanity; Fondazione Igino Giordani; Humanité Nouvelle; United World for Social Services; Cooperativa Gen Rosso; Azione Famiglie Nuove; Udruga Za Ekonomiju Zajednistva; Fonds Focolari Actions Solidarité.

L'articolo Network and Dialogue for the Creation of a Spirit of Unity and Peace in the Mediterranean Basin proviene da New Humanity.

The first day’s work session focused on intercultural aspects. The “Centro Internazionale studenti Giorgio La Pira” presented to the partners the vision of Mayor Giorgio La Pira, its operational mechanisms, and the “Crescendo” project, which is an intervention in global citizenship education in secondary schools. International colleagues had the opportunity to attend an interactive presentation of the “Crescendo” project and were also actively involved in the project experience. As the guests admitted, the presentation made them realize the deep-rooted stereotypes in our minds and society and the resulting narratives, which often lead to conflict situations.

As Anna from the “Living Peace – International” organization concluded:

“It is very important to work with conflicts and live through them, (…) they are part of our life; we cannot simply close our eyes or run away. It is important to experience them together to better understand it and ourselves. Stereotypes create prejudices, and this cannot lead to peace. Only by living together can we all understand this better, which is a crucial preventive step for further conflict escalation.”

Our French partners added:

“To maintain peace, it is essential to work and educate our children to help them grow and become human beings capable of conflict management and aware of the importance of peace.”

During the second day’s work session, the center shared the teaching method of the Italian language and culture “Italian in Florence,” a language school with a specific intercultural and inclusive methodology. The guests were introduced to the Center’s long-term project where language is seen as a key tool for integration and a crucial aspect of creating dialogue. Our foreign guests had the opportunity to look behind the scenes of the Italian language courses and, for those with no prior knowledge of Italian, to learn something new.

“Mare Nostrum” or “Our Sea” was the Roman name for the Mediterranean Sea, encapsulating a sense of regional belonging. Only by creating networks, improving dialogue among people, and focusing on humanity and collaboration instead of competition, can we strengthen the sense of broader regional inclusion. The “M.E.D.I.T.erraNEW” project held two work sessions in Florence, which created new collaborative networks across the sea and made some steps towards transforming the Mediterranean Sea from a basin of death into a more inclusive Mare Nostrum.

L'articolo Network in the Mediterranean Sea for Youth Education proviene da New Humanity.

The “Mediterranean” is currently a priority theme within the framework of the European Union, as a way to encourage, especially among the younger generations, an exchange that promotes inclusion and dialogue. In this context the Erasmus+ project, co-financed by the European Union, was born with the title: “M.E.D.I.T.erraNEW: Mediation, Emotions, Dialogue, Interculturality, Talents to foster youth social inclusion in the Mare Nostrum”, in which New Humanity NGO acts as a partner entity together with 8 others from 5 countries (Italy, Spain, Croatia, France, Lebanon and Egypt) of the Mediterranean basin.

The genesis of the project is linked to previous significant experiences of the partners to promote initiatives of exchange, education, international volunteering, social inclusion of young people coming from familiar contexts of migration. Moreover, recent international conferences, such as those held in 2022 in Florence and in 2023 in Marseille, support the objectives of “MediterraNEW” to underline the educational and peace commitment of all participating entities.

The project is aimed at educators and trainers in the broadest sense of the word and will allow the sharing of good practices in different fields, will value the different experiences and will highlight the complementarities of interventions in the fields of well-being/affection and intercultural and interreligious dialogue, art, conflict mediation and reconciliation to promote integral and inclusive education. It is articulated in different phases where face-to-face and online training meetings are scheduled, as well as the elaboration of a multimedia pedagogical kit that each entity will have to adapt to the situation of its own country and to the social reality where it develops its activity.

In mid-February, a meeting of the project managers of the various entities was held in Florence, the city that hosts the headquarters of the “Centro Internacional La Pira”, the general coordinator of the project. It was a meeting to plan the various stages of the project and to get to know each other. The first two face-to-face training meetings will be held between April and May (Loppiano/Florence and Rome); the third will not take place until September and will be held in Beirut.

Access the project’s webpage to know more.

First published by Fundación Igino Giordani.

L'articolo Get to know the project that will train 180 project managers working with youth in the Mediterranean area proviene da New Humanity.