"Leve giovanili" - Presentation of Alessandro Carbone

Alessandro Carbone M.S.W.
"Leve civiche, leve giovanili" 1
“Leve civiche, leve giovanili”
an Italian experience
activating youth citizenship
within the local community
Alessandro Carbone, M.S.W.

Preliminary remarks (1)
 The project aims to activate the juvenile
population citizenship by means of empowering
their role as citizens
 the intervention methodology concerns the
“community development” action which stems
from the idea that a capable community is able
to identify needs and find solutions within its own
resources and can be eventually supported in
doing so (K. Lewin)

 the juvenile population is considered as capable
to identify the needs of their community and at
the same time as able to consider themselves as
resources to answer or to cover these needs
 they do not only support their community, but a
the same time they exercise their right to be
active citizens of their local territory.

 We are talking about prevention or promotion of
health; reducing risk factors, enhancing
protective factors;
 i.e the complex work of granting personal,
psycho-social wellness (ease) to the young
population in order for them to reduce disease
increasing coping skills and lowering discomfort,
empowering their wellness and comfort, all this
taking place on both an individual and a social
level

The challenges (1)
 This objective will be accomplished by
working mainly on three direct targets:
Young population
Local Community
Local Government

On the young population; working by means of this
intervention means to:
1. Give value to the young individual by
means of:
 Offering a chance for experiencing active
citizenship
 Working on their positive attitudes
 Appreciating their competencies
 Using and make them use their capacities
 Considering them as resource and not as
problem

On the young population; working by means of
this intervention means to:
2. Stimulate his/her growth by means of
 Recognizing their responsibility
 Empowering their social roles as actors in the
local community
 Trusting their knowledge and expertise
 Training them on new tasks and abilities
 Asking them to show commitment on duties,
rules, performance

3. Give answer to their needs
 Of being principal actors of their own lives and
of the surrounding social context
 Of being independent from the adults
 Of being supported and sustained (from a
distance) by significant adults
 Of being appreciated and useful to others

4. Facilitate and respect their features
 Tendency to be and work in social
groups, to socialize with others
 Motivation to learn and increase their
knowledge
 Stimulus to “serve” others and the
community

On the local community; working by means of
Make the community responsible of their young
population through (1):
 involving most of the community association and
institution
 activating citizens capable of preventing juvenile
disease
 empowering the different agents in dealing with
youngsters’ education
 sensitizing the community on the matter

Make the community responsible of their young
population through (2):
 making the community able to evaluate the positive
resources which the youth has
 sustaining the community in creating a protective
environment for youngsters
 creating (start to create) a network system among
services and institutions who might be interested
 welcoming young individuals into volunteer service
and granting them tutorship
 sustaining the association involved to work with
young people in an educative perspective

On the local government; working by means of
 to invest financial and personal resources on
juvenile projects;
 to enhance and allow youth to become active
citizens and to recognize their citizenship;
 to consider youngsters as a hidden potential, not
as an evident burden;
 to regard youngsters ( individual and associated
groups) as significant political interlocutors;

On the local government; working by means of
 to actually meet youngsters and create
occasions for talks and contacts;
 to facilitate the involvement of youngsters within
the community activities and services;
 to build up a welcoming and healthy community
for all citizens which can signify a protective
environment for the juvenile population.

The project’s phases
The call (1)
 “Leva Civica, Leva Giovanile” is a call
 Youngsters are called to activate themeselves
 The subject of the call is commonly the local
municipality, which is also the institution which
plays the key role of the whole project
 The proposal: “We need your help, we want you
to do something for yourself by beans of doing
something for your community!”

The call (2)
 The call is made through a letter written by the
mayor
 The letter invites young people to participate to
an evening event, a meeting where a concrete
proposal will be presented and explained in all
the details to those who want to participate
 Letters are sent via post, or other media tools

Presentation meeting and in-
formal contract (1)
 The event is the chance for the young people to
see who is making the proposal, to meet other
youngsters who would like to know more about
the initiative
 The climate and the atmosphere of the event are
very important, they are the very first touch with
the experience: it should be appealing, juvenile,
welcoming, functional, not formal

formal contract (2)
During the meeting it should become clear:
 who is making the proposal,
 what is offered,
 what is asked or required of the youngsters,
 what can the youngsters do,
 where can the youngsters volunteer,
 which are the association that will host the voluntary
work,
 how long is the commitment going to last.

formal contract (3)
The aim of the meeting is to put the youngsters
into the condition to make, an initial, informal,
personal decision if and how they want to be
part of this action, of this proposal
It is very important that during the evening event
the project worker(s) contacts all the youngsters
who joined the meeting, gets into relations with
them, tries to detect moods, intentions, ideas,
questions.

formal contract (4)
It is necessary to collect telephone numbers so to
contact each of the interested youngsters right
after the meeting and schedule a meeting
Good if some of the agencies where the
youngsters could perform their activities are
already present at the meeting (stands, some
paper material)
The young participants should be able to foresee a
possible scenario of their action within the
community

The interview (1)
The project worker contacts the person for a meeting
Goals of the interview are:
 to re-explain to the person all the details of the project and
the proposal
 to know the person better
 to understand what he/she is looking for (expectancies,
needs)
 to grasp the competencies and skills the youngster is willing
to implement and put into services
 to draw possible scenarios regarding the allocation of the
personal capacities

The interview (2)
 The worker can present some of the possible contexts
which volunteer work can be realized
 The youngster him/herself can bring up suggestions
about known volunteer environments where to activate
one’s energies and capacities
 It is important that a good, positive, warm, trusting and
mature relationship can be developed
 Not the time to define things rigidly and definitely

The training (1)
Goals of the training are:
 to reinforce the knowledge and competencies of the
people with regard to the action they are going to develop
 to share the project plan
 to know the territory and its actors
 to reflect on social, cultural, educational issues
 to have the chance to reflect on personal matters
 to reason on volunteerism applying it on own personal life
 to prepare for special areas of intervention (school,
nursing home, kindergarten, disability services, etc.)

The training (2)
The training can plan different types of
intervention:
 real training moments (face to face)
 socializing moments
 encounters with the association
 visit to the local agencies involved in the project
where the volunteer action is going to take place

The training (3)
A remote goal, but of paramount importance
of the training, is to build up a significant
group with all the young participants:
 working on the atmosphere
 on the relations which can develop
 the shaping of the group has to be
intentional and well cared

The training (4)
Possible topics of the training program:
 Knowing the territory where we live;
 The community and the social action within
 Working with groups, working groups, group dynamics;
 The helping relationship;
 Interpersonal communication;
 Juvenile easiness, uneasiness and disease;
 Prevention and preventive action with different clientele
(youngsters, elderly, disabled, children);
 Social network and social work.

The volunteer intervention (1)
The experience should be:
Respectful or youngster’s desire, interests,
needs, ideals, capacities and attitudes
Respectful or the agency’s structure and
organizations
Pleasurable, stimulating, so to keep up the
motivation of the youngster

Therefore it should be:
 prepared in a very scrupulous way
 activated long time before the real start of the
project
 activated by contacts between educator/tutor
with the environment hosting the volunteer
action

What has to be defined between the agency
and the project workers:
 A working plan which can involve: a calendar of
intervention (time, when, how often etc.) 4-9
months, 2-3 hrs a week;
 The activities required by the youngsters in
his/her deed (what is he/she supposed to do);
 Necessary time for the “supervision of the
experience” (meetings and regular encounters to
verify how it is going).

What has to be granted to the youngster by the
project workers:
 that he/she can always re-discuss with the
supervisor or the project worker the problems that
he/she is facing
 to re-discuss even the placement where to
perform the tasks and eventually make a change
 the motivation and the resources of the youngster
have to be supported and assured constantly,
both by the project workers and by the agency
supervisor.

The tutoring activity (1)
The following issues have to be
addressed:
 care for the relations (youngster, agency,
tutor)
 support of the youngsters’ motivation
 reading and reflecting on the experience
 reflection on being an active citizen

The individual, the youngster should:
 be supported, motivated, helped in choosing
the best experience
 be helped in analyzing the environment and
the task
 be supported in dealing with problems,
difficulties, and all other relevant issues
 a final evaluation should be scheduled to make
the experience meaningful

A particular attention has to be given to the
constitution of the group, to the support of
group dynamics, to warm up the atmosphere,
to stimulate and enhance communication.
The group is a very important instrument, and
it could be the engine to animate coming
“Leve” experiences.
The youngsters shouldn’t feel abandoned even
during the group experience, but always find
a feed back.

The local agencies, the association and
the community:
 the organizations, the associations and the
community have to be taken into account:
 have to be constantly supported in
welcoming the young volunteers, but also
to understand the problems which can
come up during the activity

Pha
se
Activity Worker’s tasks Timing
1
Contact with the local interested associations.
Formal/informal contract about the initiative.
Organizing with the agency the intervention plan.
Making a proposal to the local associations in order to
have their initial consent.
1 month
2
Calling/invitation letter for the youngsters Editing of the letter
Collection of all the youngsters addresses
Sending the letter
1 – 2
weeks
3
Meeting and presentation of the initiative:
proposal
collection of adhesions, telephone numbers
in-formal contract
Organizing the meeting.
Managing the meeting
Activating the individual contacts with the
youngsters.
1 day for the
preparation;
1 evening for the
meeting.
4
Individual interviews with the young people
who have accepted the proposal.
Setting and activating the interviews Max 1 month. As
soon as possible
after the evening
meeting.

5
Training.
Approximately 5-7 evenings each focused
on a specific theme.
Contacting the youngsters before the training action
starts.
Back – office work
Monitoring tutoring of the training.
Working with and on the group of youngsters.
3 months.
6
Meetings between the youngsters and the
local associations/agencies available for the
volunteer action.
Contacts and first meeting with the
youngsters
Presentation to the youngsters of all the
possible chances for volunteer action.
Organizing of the encounters with the agencies.
Facilitating the meetings between people in charge of
the associations and the youngsters.
At the same
time of the
training phase
(Phase 5)
7
Action/intervention of the youngsters at the
associations and agencies.
Facilitating the insertion within the association and
beginning of the activities.
Monitoring of the activities.
Evaluation of the activities
Re-orienteering/re-design of the interventions -
eventually - in other more adequate association.
4 months, up to
the entire
“season”. Not
more than 9
months.

Some possible risks according
to the developed experience (1)
On behalf of the project/intervention designers:
 considering worthless involving young people
considered out of risk with regard to the juvenile
disease and not evidently addressing
youngsters at high risk of disease;
 having wrong expectations compared to the
potential given by the juvenile population of the
community (this can be due to lack of knowledge
of the community itself).

On behalf of the Local Government leader
of the intervention (1):
 not to consider this as an efficacious intervention,
since the project is not addressing specific
problems and working on specific targets of young
population;
 to consider young people involved in the active
services within the associations and institutions as
a cheap/free labor force performing institutional
duties and responsibilities;

On behalf of the Local Government leader of
the intervention (2):
 to measure the outcome of the project simply by means
of the adhesions (number of youngsters and association)
and not by means of the educational, social and
community intervention;
 to evaluate and prove wrong the investment of energy
and resources compared to the “visible” outcome of the
intervention;
 to view at youngsters just as a beneficiary of social
intervention and not as actors, source and “holder of
citizenship”.

On behalf of the youngsters involved:
 to think of this as a possible way to find
easily and immediately a job;
 to not be consistent in the commitment
with the volunteer works since it is for free;
 to join the activities mostly for their
social/group/friendship dimension and less
for the volunteer deed.

On behalf of the community associations an
agencies activated:
 to have the tendency to exploit the youngster in
their volunteer service;
 not to consider this as an educational task and
have a hard time to let go of the youngster at
the end of the year;
 to consider itself as autonomous and therefore
not accept the network with other agencies;
 to recruit easily and free of charge volunteers.

 Thank you so much for your attention!
E-mail: alessandrocarbone63@gmail.com

Group work:
1) Collect, share and discuss your personal
experience on how your local community
is sustaining, stimulating, enhancing and
building youngsters’ active citizenship.
 Point out concrete experiences
 Tell about initiatives within your
community, organisations or local
authorities

Group work:
2) What do we mean by “active citizenship”
applied to young population, what
concepts and ideas have to be involved in
the definition of “citizenship”? Is there any
particular attitude in the concept of
“European active citizenship”?

Group work:
3) Having listened to a concrete project
example trying to build up active
citizenship in young people suggest and
propose ideas (for local communities, local
authorities, public and private
organisations) to be implemented so to
allow and enhance youth active
citizenship.

"Leve giovanili" - Presentation of Alessandro Carbone

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