Next-Land is an educational project operating in the Turin districts of Barriera di Milano, Aurora and Lucento, places where serious issues of socio-economic marginalisation are deep-rooted.
Next-Land is a systematic initiative in the educational community, set up in the Turin districts of Barriera di Milano, Aurora and Lucento, urban areas in which serious issues of socio-economic marginalisation are deep-rooted, while also containing a significant concentration of young people, a resource of human capital that should not be wasted. In the first 2020-2021 programme, more than 1,100 educationally disadvantaged students were involved in a completely free educational course, consisting of nine workshop activities, specially designed by STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) researchers and museum operators, which started in October 2022. The courses were held in university buildings, schools and museums. Considering a sample of more than 1,000 students, the project produced very promising results: 76 per cent responded that they would attend school more willingly if there were more initiatives such as Next-Land, and 70 per cent claimed that the experience helped them discover new opportunities for future school choices. A unique educational course is being plotted thanks to the cultural contribution and active participation of researchers, museum educators and entrepreneurs, who have decided to invest in the future and jointly support young people, who are the most valuable resource of these places.
Ohana is an experiential pilot project, totally free of charge in its experimental phase, for the creation of a school that promotes self-reliance in a semi-residential facility and also gives relief to their families.
The Ohana project involves the identification of accommodation with 3 beds (2 young people and an operator) in which about fifteen beneficiaries will be placed on a rotating basis, with overnight stays during the week and at weekends. The facilities will be barrier-free and located close to the workplace, in the Cascina Aquilone premises in the Vaccheria area in Guarene. The aims of the project are:
– to increase the autonomy of young people with severe mental and motor disabilities over the age of 18, to allow them a break from their daily family life;
– to allow groups of disabled young people working at Cascina Aquilone to have a place during lunch breaks where they can do their shopping, prepare lunch and manage their free time independently, with the coordination and supervision of professional operators;
– provide, with the possibility of an overnight stay, the chance to go out in the evenings to take part in events such as exhibitions, theatre and cinema. This would also include young people who, for reasons of distance or impossibility of being accompanied, cannot normally take part in such activities;
– provide spaces of normality for the children’s families, freeing them from the continuous care of their children, thus enabling them to regain a quality of life that has been compromised since their children were born.
Bobby’s Dream is a project, promoted by Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Italia, to support effective socio-occupational inclusion in the labour market of vulnerable members of the community.
Education, Inclusion, Sustainability and Community are the areas of activity in which Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Italia (RFK Italia), operating in Italy since 2006, works to carry on the moral legacy of Senator Robert Francis Kennedy and realise his dream of a more just and peaceful world. In 2019, RFK Italia launched the Bobby’s Dream project for socio-occupational inclusion, aimed at vulnerable members of the community. Through vocational training courses and skills-building programmes, it intends to create an inclusive labour market and reduce the socio-economic hardship that affects fragile sections of society the most. The first two pilot classes, one in Milan for ten new Social and Welfare Auxiliaries (ASA) and one in Florence for nine beneficiaries in haute couture embroidery, provide vocational training (hard skills) and autonomy-enhancement activities (soft skills) that include economic education, Italian language improvement, psychological support and human rights training activities, with a focus on workers’ rights and duties.
Sgasà is a project whose overall objective is the transition to an alternative, sustainable socio-economic model.
The Sgasà project promotes the creation of a community based on sustainable consumption, with the overall objective of promoting a transition towards an alternative, sustainable socio-economic model, starting from the Monregalese area (initially the project was developed in the Saluzzo, Mondovì and partly in Cuneo areas, but today it focuses more on the Monregalese area). This objective is pursued by encouraging responsible and sustainable consumption in local communities, with a focus on products with a short supply chain, cultivated with methods that take into account the complexity of the environment. Products that are packaging- and plastic- free and respect the socio-economic context they originate in. These products are circulated via IT support and a 100% electric van. In addition to fostering greater awareness about the food consumption habits of citizens, through events and workshops that bring together small local producers and citizens, the scheme aims to provide practical tools to enable everyone to reduce their environmental footprint. To achieve this latter objective, the group focused in particular on reducing waste through the practice of reuse and loose, non pre-packed food. Furthermore, the project aims to involve disadvantaged people through work grants and job placements. To date, the project can boast a network of producers backed up by a product specification signed by each member, a network of collaborators and organisations, the management of two farmers’ markets in the city of Cuneo, participation in local fairs and events and much more. In the near future, the project intends to activate a “Stoviglioteca” – which promotes the use of reusable plastic plates – with related services, to be made available to citizens, as well as opening the first shop for loose agricultural products in the area.
A project focusing on the co-creation of training programmes in Italy and Europe aimed at new generations of Chinese philanthropists and directors of philanthropic organisations.
The China-Italy Philanthropy Forum (CIPF) had its origin in a seminar on the subject of Italo-Chinese philanthropic collaboration promoted by the TOChina Hub of the University of Turin in Beijing in May 2018. In March 2019, upon the signing in Villa Madama of the “Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of the China-Italy Philanthropy Forum”, the CIPF was formally constituted. This experience represents the highest level of collaboration ever experienced by the two countries in the field of philanthropy and is greatly appreciated by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. The China-Italy Philanthropy Forum is a non-governmental platform committed to facilitating opportunities for constructive dialogue and sustainable collaboration between leading philanthropic players in the two countries, to foster human development in Italy, China and elsewhere in the world. Members of the Forum are primarily family foundations and other institutions that pursue the highest standards of social responsibility. The partners involved in the Forum’s second triennial (2022-2025) are the China Development Research Foundation, the National School of Development at Peking University and the TOChina Hub at the University of Turin. In this three-year period, the Forum also intends to broaden its membership by bringing in selected European philanthropic families. The most recent project promoted by the Forum was a donation to the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Rome, announced during a CIPF High-Level Workshop held at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences in May 2023. The next project will be the foundation of a China-Europe Philanthropy Innovation Research Centre at Peking University, whose first activity will be the launch of an innovative training programme in Italy and Europe addressed to the next generation of Chinese philanthropists and directors of philanthropic organisations.
Support project for pregnant teenagers in Hong Kong.
In 1986, a series of newspaper articles reported on the alarming number of teenage pregnancies in Hong Kong. This prompted Gary and Helen Stephens and Ranjan and Phyllis Marwah to set up Mother’s Choice. With their hearts devoted to service, love for the city of Hong Kong and the support of many in the community, they opened the doors to Mother’s Choice in 1987. The passion to provide loving, non-judgmental support to the many pregnant teenagers who had no one to turn to has been broadened to provide educational care for children without families and to be a voice of help for them. The vision of Mother’s Choice is bold, but by working together it can be achieved.
