From victims of violence to actors of non violence

The project is organized in 5 macro-phases. First one includes a kick-off meeting and several coordinating meetings to be run in different European cities. During the same phase an international research will be run in order to analyze socio-cultural aspects of the concerned countries and the current legislative approach to young offenders treatment. Furthermore, during the first phase, an international focus group will gather in order to analyze and compare different legislations systems. In the end of this phase and as result of the research, a group of 41 young people will be identified as direct beneficiary of the action. Second phase includes training activities for youth social workers, in order share experience and knowledge on using international activities and social volunteering as tools to work with and for youth at risk of social marginalization. During the third phase, to be implemented in Sicily, a pilot project will be run, involving both local and international participants. Local international social volunteering and job experiences will become the tool to break cultural stereotypes and overcome fears and prejudices; to make it possible to build and make visible actual alternatives to criminal path and “career”. During this phase, partner organization will be indirectly beneficiaries, having the role of “studying” and job-shadowing methodologies and tools of the Sicilian organizations and network. During the fourth phase, in the second year of the project, similar pilot experiences will be implemented also in countries where partners are based, namely Czech Republic and Spain. Experience and methodology of the previous phase will therefore have a direct impact on other countries and multiply their effect at a wider level. Last part of the project will be addressed to sort, systematize and report the methodological results of the project itself, making them available to a wider public.