Do you think it is possible to learn how to become an active citizen?
We do!

This is why we have created "Circular Citizens": a training cycle, made on weekends, focused on frail people (neet, unemployed, psychiatric patients, single mothers looking for work, etc.) but open to anyone, with the aim of increasing their personal skills and, thanks to a "path" dedicated to the circular economy and participation, to increase their desire to take part in the territorial policies.

Anticoli Corrado is a beautiful place in the Aniene Valley, 50 km from Rome.

With our actions we would like to involve citizens, especially those at risk of exclusion to the enhancement of a wonderful place, increasingly depressed due to the progressive depopulation typical of inland areas. Thanks to this project we also want to encourage the re-appropriation of social spaces by citizens and offer them new exchange opportunities with "active" people involved in organizations and international projects. In addition to this we want to support the local community in increasing green and active citizenship skills. For this reason, our activities will be focused on trainings dedicated to green skills that will end with citizenship activities (cleaning campaigns, activities in schools, organization of meetings and workshops, etc.) to test the skills acquired by everyone.

With our project we want to involve a large part of the population who, as usual in the small municipalities that are part of the internal areas, are constantly at risk of exclusion. For this reason we have identified 3 main key target groups: school aged people from 5 to 19 years (about 13.2% of the population), people who is statistically most in need of acquiring green skills from 20-39 (22, 8% of the population) and a specific key target group of subjects who come from the mental health centers of the territory who have ages ranging between 18 and 65 years and are followed by social services: people who perhaps more than others need to be involved and positively "contaminated" on the issues of active citizenship.

For the realization of the project we foresee the maximum involvement of internal and external stakeholders at the Tavola Rotonda with a view to maximum dissemination. These are the steps provided:

1- Call within the organization to identify the project staff and the figure who will be responsible for coordination; at the same time the trainers will be identified: they will be asked to draw up a training plan and build the specific training courses for the project;
2- Creation of a territorial mapping to identify the stakeholders to be involved in the project conducted through the context design method (University of Florence);
3- Elaboration of the results of the territorial mapping;
4- Sharing the results with the organization;
5- Research, in collaboration with the Municipality of Anticoli Corrado and the Department of Mental Health of the territory of the beneficiaries of the project;
6- Organization of a project launch meeting with businesses, public administration, NGOs, teachers and citizens;
7- Collection of registrations for training;
8- Start of training, conducted in a non-formal way;
9- Organization of active citizenship activities and campains;
10- Conclusion of the project with a public initiative organized by project's stakeholder.

Thanks to Cittadini Circolari - Circular Citizens, we expect, as already happened in the past, to involve the community and reaffirm the importance of inclusion for the achievement of community benefits. We are sure that non-formal education and active citizenship can be confirmed as very effective tools (and "medicine" of involvement and social activation for those subjects who, if not involved, would risk living in marginal conditions. With the project, we also hope to expand the number of members and stakeholders of the organization and, consequently, the number of project ideas, relationships, creativity and active participation in it. Last but not least, we hope to connect more our organisations to the territory and, if possible, improve it.

The project is based on the exchange of skills between peers: this means that the benefits will necessarily be widespread. Thanks to cooperation, listening and communication it is possible to increase critical capacity, reduce prejudices and build tolerance, understanding, empathy and openness to diversity. Based on previous experiences, we are sure that with this project will be possible to support the development of intercultural and democratic skills and work through civil society to positively influence politics and to foster collaboration between political and civil organizations in the management of common goods.

Our team is made up of people with different professions including economists, architects, social planning and design experts, teambuilder, teachers, tourist experts and environmental guides. This idea is close to our heart because we strongly believe that the participation of everyone in the social and political life of their territory is fundamental and, above all, it is important that everyone feels "part of something" regardless of their economic, psychological and social conditions. We believe in social promotions which is the “green fuel” of all our activities anche we strongly think Anticoli Corrado is a beautiful place that needs new energies, new possibilities, a newfound confidence and new engagement policies to start over (or begin) to believe in its big potential.

Personnel cost (coordinator, secretary, trainers) → € 24000
Public relations → € 3000
Communication → € 3000
Materials → € 4000
Locations for trainings → € 7000

I'd like to receive feedback about our project and discuss about our others organisation's ideas on www.tavolarotonda.org. I'd like to receive suggestions, comments or feedback from everyone.
PS: please be patient with my english ;) and, if you want to collaborate with us, let me know!