Copyright 2024 - Controvento Società Cooperativa Sociale O.N.L.U.S., Via Calcinaro 1458 - 47522 Cesena (FC) info@coopcontrovento.it

International projects

Each year, Controvento, with the support of EU Programmes and local institutions, offers hundreds of young people the opportunity to participate in learning experiences at an international level.

In 2008, it was the Italian coordinator of the participatory process "Young European Within the Building of the Knowledge-Based Society". Commissioned by the EU French Presidency, the project involved for seven months 300 young people from 24 European countries with the aim of developing recommendations addressed to the European Commission on how to build the European Knowledge Society. In 2011, it coordinated the participatory project "I Citizen in Transition: Foresight Exercises for Young Citizens and Local Administrators". From 2013 to 2016, it coordinated the projects "I Young Citizen in Europe" and "I Young Citizen in Europe 2: If I work, I learn, If I learn, I work", funded by the Youth in Action Programme (Action 4.6 Partnerships) of the European Union. From 2016 to 2017 it coordinated in Italy the Erasmus+ KA2 project "Youth committed with climate" and from 2017 to 2019 the Erasmus+ KA3 project "Being Human, Living Together".

In recent months, Controvento has trained around a hundred young people, who participated in:

  • MedCop 21 (Euro-Mediterranean KA1 project "Jeunes Engagés Autour du Climat")
  • COP 21 (Erasmus+ KA2 project "Youth Committed to Climate")
  • Summer University of International Solidarity (Erasmus+ project "Youth Committed to Climate")
  • COY 12 (Erasmus+ KA1 project " Jeunes Méditerranéens et Climat")
  • COP 22 (Erasmus+ KA1 project " Jeunes Méditerranéens et Climat")
  • IUCN World Congress Erasmus+ (KA1 project "Jeunes engagés pour la biodiversité")

In the frame of the European projects conducted, and often as the result of participatory processes, Controvento has supported informal groups of young people towards the building of international networks of committed young people: in 2011 the network EYES, Empowering Youth in a European Society, in 2015 the Euro-Mediterranean network JIEC, Jeunes Engagement et Initiatives pour le Climat and in 2019-2021 the Euro-Mediterranean network "Jeunes engagés pour la biodiversité". The accompaniment consists of training, fund raising and support in organizing Youth European events.

Moreover, since 2005, Controvento welcomes and trains young European educators active in the youth field. In 2016, two teams of young French science animators completed their training alongside Controvento educators thanks to the Erasmus+ project "Inspirations Européennes 2".

The common feature of all the projects mentioned above is their complexity. To be carried out, they required the creation of partnerships involving, not only Controvento and other non-formal education actors, but also universities, research centres and public administrations. These partnerships allow to integrate experiences, complementary skills and knowledge making possible to test new areas of work and improve the quality of the projects addressed to youth.

Today, Controvento is actively engaged in building international networks that promote the partnerships between non-formal educational organizations, universities and research institutions with the aim of experimenting new forms of collaboration and improve the quality of projects targeting young people.