Among the contemporary challenges, the ability of cities and territories to transform themselves into inclusive, participatory and resilient contexts, able not only to adapt to changes, but also to cope with them through good planning in the use of resources and directly involving citizens, is becoming increasingly important. There is a directly proportional relationship between living conditions in human settlements and citizen participation in the construction of public policies. But the civic involvement and the leading role of the community in the processes of knowledge and change of reality that have as their purpose the protection of rights and the care of common goods require as a necessary condition the strengthening of civic activism and the development of the ability of citizens to organize themselves to carry out activities of general interest.
The Community P.R.O. (Participation Resilience Organizing) project, to be realized by Cittadinanzattiva between May 2021 and October 2022 and funded by the Italian Minister of Labor and Social Policies, aims to create more inclusive and resilient communities, and make them aware of the power of organized cooperation between active citizens. The activities will take place throughout the entire country. Cittadinanzattiva intends to experiment the training of the figures called “Civic Activators”. They will play a key role in the change processes of local contexts, supporting local communities in being more “active” in their rights and in their defense of common goods, facilitating participatory processes and enhancing social bonds.
The last 11th and 12th December, Cittadinanzattiva held in Rome the first two team-building meetings, addresses to 100 Civic Activators coming from all over Italy. Next January a specific training will start, followed by an on-the-field job in which Civic Activators will experience, supported by Cittadinanzattiva, the leading of participatory processes involving communities and will facilitate them to work together to find solutions and common paths to cope with criticalities.
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