The Italian mini-project Living Colours: A New Rainbow Over Viterbo is a follow-up of the mini-project from 2013. (See more about it: the description of the 2013 project here, and blog posts about it here.) Viterbo is a small town in Latio, on the border of Tuscia and Umbria. It’s a closed community on it’s way of learning how to deal with newcomers – not nececcarily non-Italians, also Italians from other parts of the country. This project is fostering this process. It primarily targets children and their parents. The percentage of immigrant children in Viterbo schools is between 4 and 30%.
The main activity of the project is a summer day-camp, with a mixed group of local and second generation immigrant children. As the implementers found out last year; difficulties of integration don’t affect children as much as it does their parents. They are integrated in school, have no problems with their peers. Problems might come later, when they become older. And this is what the project is about: providing skills and awareness to children and their parents, to make it easier.
The project adresses the following needs:
- Preventing isolation and social suffering of immigrant children.
- Raising awareness, on social and cultural diversity as positive elements.
- Foster active citizenship and participation in society in Viterbo.
- Local grassroots organizations need to make a stronger net and exchange their competences.
- There is a need to create a stronger connection between local schools and local grassroots.
- Involving children with disabilities.
After the preparatory meetings with parents and teachers, the implementing partners put a bigger emphasize on promotion and communication than last year. From flyers, promotion on social media and in local media and local events, to communication with policy makers, social services, and educators, a large scale of communication tools was used this year.
Staff training is a great opportunity for skill-share. While training the volunteers of the camp, local grassroots can share their methods and tools.
And here’s how the summer day-camp itself looks like:
At the end of the camp, the same as last year, there is a final event. A feast where all the products of the workshops will exposed, and experiences will be shared with the local community.
Partners:
