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 ENGAGE project, funded from EU H2020 Research and Innovation Programme, aims to link the informal resilience naturally inherent in citizens with the formal work done by authorities to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters.
As part of the research activities of the ENGAGE project, Cittadinanzattiva played a key role in interviewing citizens of the city of L'Aquila, in Abruzzo (Italy) who experienced the 2009 earthquake. In the article we intend to deepen some aspects, which could limit the ability of citizens and communities to implement coping actions. Particular attention is paid to the measures and methods implemented by the authorities, with the aim of bringing further elements to the discussion on the best approaches to foster and increase the resilience of communities.
Recently, Cittadinanzattiva created a safety Smart box with helpful material to promote student resilience in school contexts. With these materials, students can, for example, become more familiar with municipal #civilprotection emergency plans.
Cittadinanzattiva is proud to be part of a new large European partnership to give life to the project NIGHTINGALE Novel InteGrated toolkit for enhanced pre-Hospital life support and Triage In ChallenGing And Large Emergencies, funded by H2020 HorizonEU Research & Innovation Programme. NIGHTINGALE will develop and validate an innovative set of integrated tools for the response to large Medical Emergencies: a multi-technological toolkit that networks the different actors involved in the emergency management, and that serves emergency physicians and non-medical civil protection agencies (firefighters, police, but also volunteers and citizens). The goal is to ensure a substantial improvement to pre-hospital life support and triage. The tools developed will allow a shared response between emergency medical services, non-medical civil protection personnel, volunteers and citizens by increasing their "field of vision", information sharing and communication between teams and with victims.
Cittadinanzattiva, in particular with Active Citizenship Network, will be an active part of the project bringing a civic perspective, ensuring that the solutions developed meet the needs of citizens and enhance their skills. We will participate in the dissemination and communication of the project results thanks to the wide network of "civic" (but not only) contacts in Italy and Europe. If you or your organization are interested in the field, join us with your civic experience and knowledge! Write ASAP to Daniela Quaggia
For its Brussels office, Active Citizenship Network-Cittadinanzattiva is recruiting a part time EU project manager. The successful applicant will represent Active Citizenship Network-Cittadinanzattiva as a consortium partner in European projects - funded by the EU Commission - already in place, as well as supporting the team in liaising with the EU Institutions, organizing events, contents and the general management of the job. If interested, please read more and send a CV with a motivation letter via email to
Are you interested in an internship in EU policy? Cittadinanzattiva APS is looking for a trainee to contribute to the development of its activities in the European framework. The selected candidate will be part of Active Citizenship Network (ACN) and will work together with the Director of European policies of Cittadinanzattiva and its team, located in Rome and Brussels. The candidate will have the opportunity to develop competencies in the field of European projects, citizen’s involvement, advocacy, and policy making at the European Union level, communication, corporate governance, and citizens’ rights. He or she will also be involved in the management of other European initiatives and projects, particularly dealing with ACN’s Network and having relations with partners, institutions and private and public stakeholders.
Active Citizenship Network’s Community, shortly “ACN Community”, has been launched as a development of the “Active for Young professionals” program, realized back in 2014.
This Community distinguishes itself as a network of individuals rather than associations aiming at fostering the relationship of ACN with the single individuals that ACN has met and gotten to know in the last years through the program. In order to keep in touch with these people, the Community allows all its members the opportunity not only to remain in contact with the network itself but also to interact with each other. Furthermore, reuniting all the interns and volunteers who collaborated with ACN through the years within an informal network to continue to cooperate with them as well as provide them help and support throughout their professional paths makes the initiative mutually beneficial for both ACN and individuals themselves. The Community is addressed to all those young people who, with different roles, have been involved in the program “Active for Young Professionals”, including youths that have been supported in their studies, especially with the drafting of their thesis, youths that have been given the opportunity to work, either as volunteers or as interns, at the ACN’s headquarters, and all those young people and adults, either patients or not, that have volunteered or cooperated with Cittadinanzattiva/Active Citizenship Network to support and promote its work at the national and international level. If you wish to become a member of ACN’s Community, you can write to
Since 2014, Active Citizenship Network has launched both in Italy and abroad the educational and training program “Active for Young Professionals”, which regularly offers internship and volunteering opportunities to undergraduate students and recent graduates from different universities. Below, read directly from who lived this experience.
The “Active for Young Professionals” program led by Active Citizenship Network has consolidated during the years and has strengthened its functioning by establishing two educational partnerships.
A first official agreement was stipulated on September 8, 2014, with John Cabot University to provide internship opportunities to the university’s students. John Cabot is the main American private university in the heart of Rome for both Italian and international students coming from more than 60 different countries. John Cabot University and Cittadinanzattiva /Active Citizenship Network both share the common goal to facilitate the intern’s professional choices by providing direct knowledge of the work environment and providing a complete training with appropriate study and work experiences.
Working as project Assistant at Active Citizenship Network (ACN) was a very enriching experience. During my time there, I was mostly in charge of dealing with healthcare and patients’ rights at the European level. More specifically, I worked on different projects on patients’ safety and empowerment, e-health, vaccination, sustainable healthcare, and cross-border healthcare rights. Since the very first moment I was given numerous responsibilities, which allowed me to develop my organizational and management skills. The various tasks I was assigned included helping in the organization of public events, writing articles and content for the website, drafting the minutes of public events, preparing memoranda of understanding and partnership proposals, among others. Moreover, I was able to assist my colleagues in the organization of the 13th edition of the European Patients' Rights Day as well as to attend public debates at the European Commission. Above all, I was mainly responsible for carrying out the second edition of the bi-annual research-project at the European level “EU Civic Prize on Chronic Pain - Collection of good practices”, which seeks to highlight existing good practices addressing the struggle against pain in several European countries.
I started my experience at Cittadinanzattiva - Active Citizenship Network in March 2020, with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. This situation did not allow me to attend the working environment as I wished, but, despite this, I immediately felt involved in all activities, which included drafting new articles, participating in meetings and webinars, helping in the organization of public events, and establishing new partnerships and collaborations. All the people I interacted with supported and respected me throughout the whole experience and made me feel in a serene environment that was open to discussion and innovation. Despite the difficulties due to Covid-19, ACN has offered me many different experiences in tune with my interests that have allowed me to measure myself with a new and fascinating reality.
During my internship with Active Citizenship Network, I had the chance to see how civic participation can be a decisive factor in EU policymaking. From the start, I received lots of responsibilities and projects, such as the Launch of the second term of the MEPs Interest Group “Cross-Border Healthcare and Patients’ Rights”, which we held at the European Parliament. Thanks to my stay at Active Citizenship Network, I was able to understand how important discussion among different stakeholders takes place in order to further common goals, such as in the field of Health Policy.