COMMUNITY MAKERS

The COMMUNITY MAKERS project provides socio-educational interventions, targeting individuals and the community, aiming to involve in particular the population of Rome's Municipality VIII.

COMMUNITY MAKERS proposes integrated interventions that enhance lifelong learning and the culture of volunteering, through the involvement of other realities of the reference territory such as urban gardens, associations and social cooperatives, working in a network, with the macro objective of activating a good practice self-sustainable over time, for the benefit of individuals and the community as a whole.

CONTEXT

We speak of community when different people or groups share interests or backgrounds, when they feel they have something in common. Today, the sense of community is constantly being challenged and redefined as people change cities, move to a new country, live in a multicultural environment, embrace new interests or beliefs, change jobs and careers. The level of heterogeneity in today's communities is extremely high. This is quite evident in a city like Rome, even within the same municipality, such as the Municipality VIII.

We observe that the common denominator that connects people and makes them feel part of a community is the sense of unity in their uniqueness and diversity, the need for mutual exchange and mutual support and solidarity. More than a group or an entity, the community is a value, a way of being together, a way of living together, a way of growing together. In recent years we are witnessing a real crisis of 'community', as people's trust diminishes, inequalities increase and the culture of individualism grows. The recent Covid19 pandemic has once again highlighted the importance and necessity of strengthening community, demonstrating the importance of mutual aid, solidarity, networking.

Identified needs

• re-building social links, recovering the proximity of relationships
• encouraging social integration, recovering the relationship with the Other and developing intercultural dialogue
• creating the conditions for active participation, promoting the culture of volunteering through supporting paths and tools
• responding to the need for human fulfilment, enabling everyone to access learning opportunities at any age and at any time of life (lifelong learning)
• countering psycho-social discomforts caused by social isolation, not only among the elderly or people with disabilities, but also among the general population and in particular young people, who see an increase in anxiety, worsening obsessive-compulsive behaviour and cases of depression

OBJECTIVES

Community Makers aims to:

• OB1.Promote lifelong learning and empowerment of citizens in the community through 10 preparation courses for volunteers, developing and implementing an innovative training path based on the re-discovery of oneself and of one's own skills and approaches, on volunteering and on digital tools that can foster it. 100 participants, direct beneficiaries, will be involved.
• OB2.Address the issue of social isolation resulting from physical isolation and its effects, focusing on the meaning of community and the need to renew and retake hold of it through interventions that support and promote encounters and exchanges with the Other.
• OB3.Activate a community time bank that facilitates the exchange of volunteering services at local level, both online and offline, lowering the threshold of accessibility and increasing participation and inclusion, reaching 300 people during the project, with a multiplier effect in time.

ACTIVITIES

The project is based on two macro actions that will promote lifelong LEARNING and the ENCOUNTER and EXCHANGE between members of the community, based on a holistic approach, fostering social and intercultural competences and helping to reduce inequalities.

1. COURSES FOR VOLUNTEERS (from APRIL to OCTOBER 2022)

A serie of 10 preparatory courses focused on personal empowerment and lifelong learning, working on self-awareness, skills acknowledgement and activation as a volunteer.

The content of the training agenda will cover 4 main topics:

• self-awareness (knowledge, know-how, knowing how to be)
• awareness of the Other (active listening, inclusion, intercultural approach, intergenerational exchange)
• self-expression within the community (knowing how to be with the others)
• active participation and community time bank (volunteering and exchanges)

The courses are preparatory to participants' participation in the time bank volunteering exchanges.

2. VOLUNTEERING EXCHANGES (from MAY to OCTOBER 2022)

The participants in the volunteer courses will be guided to propose volunteer offers of which will benefit other members of the community. The whole process will be supported through the Time Bank of the Municipality VIII of Rome, facilitating citizens to find out about volunteering offers and get in touch with each other.

The time bank exchanges aim to involve other 200 citizens who will be able to benefit from the offers of the 100 volunteers, but also become volunteers themselves.

The project uses volunteering as an experience not only of learning, but of community learning.

THE TIME BANK

WWW.8TEMPO.IT

The project innovates the world of volunteering through the introduction of digital tools designed and built ad hoc for a better participation/use/access by the community. The 8TEMPO.IT Time Bank is an innovative tool, which is the result of an international cooperation of the Erasmus+ Programme between different bodies in 7 European countries. In Italy, the Time Bank was adopted by the Municipality of Rome VIII which supported its implementation through the SOLIDALIA project in December 2021.

8TEMPO.IT is a time bank for everyone. Its slogan "Share time, build community" is evocative. People can share their time (measured in chronocredits, where 1 chronocredit = 1 volunteer offer of 1 hour) by exchanging volunteerIing services. The Time Bank is based on the principle that everyone has something to offer or share with others: a story, a life experience, a skill, etc. So everyone can become a volunteer, a beneficiary of the Time Bank, or both.

Volunteer exchanges can be in many different fields: gardening; sports & leisure time, pet sitting; caring & support; art & culture; education and languages; information & technology; house aid & maintenance; community and social.

PROJECT BENEFICIARIES

All interested citizens young people 18+, adults and seniors 50+ can join the project, those who already have volunteering experience as well as those approaching volunteering for the first time.

Through the complementarity of its actions, Community Makers makes the world of volunteering accessible to those who find themselves in situations of fragility elderly people, people with disabilities, migrants not only in receiving, but also in giving, creating the conditions for them to also become a point of reference and support for others.

Through the involvement of stakeholders such as educational services dedicated to minors, it is intended to widen participation to young people between the ages of 11 and 17. Educational services will be able to register their youth centres on the Time Bank and promote activities carried out by young people with the support of educators.

PARTNERS

For the realisation of the project Community Makers, Replay Network aps will collaborate with other third sector organisations active in the Municipality VIII of Rome, in a network perspective for a greater social impact and future sustainability of the project. Gruppo Accademia di Ricerca e Formazione Clinicopedagogica e Psicosociale APS will contribute to the development of preparation courses for volunteers, monitoring and evaluation of volunteer exchanges. Other realities of the territory, such as social cooperatives, associations and urban community gardens will support the promotion of the Time Bank and of the volunteering exchanges and will be a focal point for the community, hosting volunteer exchanges between citizen volunteers and beneficiaries of offers.

DURATION

12 months, between 26 January 2022 and 25 January 2023.