Begoml, Repubblic of Belarus
Every year Italy hosts 25,000 Belarussian children as part of a serious effort of health prevention of possible illnesses resulting from living in areas contaminated by the radioactivity which followed the nuclear accident of
The humanitarian effort, which requires the commitment of Italian families and numerous volunteer organisations, has today become an opportunity for socio-economic development both for Italy and for Belarus.
The long term commitment of families has allowed for the creation of a network of relationships, which has an economic potential (beside a humanitarian one) particularly important from the perspective of the global development of the economy. The global development of the economy requires the reduction of socio-economic differentials present world wide and the activation of commercial flow and of "know-how", which will be among the key factors of economic development, short and long term.
The children and young adults received in Italy are at this point a bilingual resource with the ability to interpret and integrate two cultures and to therefore facilitate the initiatives of productive, economic and social development. In fact, they represent a potential "canal" through which to establish a foundation of economic integration and development between the two countries.
The project aims to transfer the good practices from the experience in Italy to that of Belarus, in the areas of deinstitutionalisation of oligophrenic children, development of art therapy programs, and social and labour integration of persons with psychic handicaps.
This goal is what the European Commission hoped for : the transfer of practices regarding handicapped persons in countries not belonging to the European Union which are involved in a process of civil society growth, which can also contribute to the overcoming of discrimination and prejudices towards disabled persons in all countries of the European Union.
A social Europe means a Europe in which people with experience with disabilities, mental illnesses, different cultures and different abilities are valuable community members, whose experiences can make important and innovative contributions. All of us must learn how to build a society in which rights can truly be accessible to all in order to live in a better and richer society.
The social European entrepreneurs have formed important networks to exchange good practices for social integration, to develop common strategies, and to achieve economic, social, and cultural transformation at the local, national, and European levels.
Having many orphans is one of the most serious problems of all societies. One can not get accustomed to it, but one must certainly keep going. However, it is more difficult to accept the fact that there are continually more children defined as "orphans", but whose parents are still alive- the so-called "social orphans".
The Belorussian statistics remind us that, today, there are roughly 30,000 children declared "social orphans", and of these, roughly 29,100 have physical and mental problems. These children need to be constantly monitored, and they need correctional, medical-social, psychological, and educational rehabilitation to give them the possibility to enter into society.
In the Belorussian Republic, there exist 77 boarding schools for 12,120 children and twelve special boarding schools for children declared "mentally disabled".
The Begoml school is one of the twelve Belorussian special boarding schools, and it was selected because for more than seven years it has had a relationship with the () in which many Belorussian children from Begoml are periodically received into the families of members of the aforementioned
The type of action and methodology proposed by the present project is innovative for Belarus and, necessarily, must be applied to a pilot group, to experiment the sustainability of the hypothesised course of action.
The understanding between the Italian and Belorussian partners, supported by the fruitful collaboration begun over the past years, constructs an excellent starting point for the transfer of the good practices in the sector of social and working integration of people with disabilities.
Currently, Begoml Boarding School hosts 153 children from six to seventeen years old, of which almost all of them have serious communication problems with the adult world, but, at the same time, a desperate need for attention and affection that they receive from four to ten times less than a child living in a "normal" family. These children grow up with an emotional poverty, they are emotionally distant and aggressive with their fellow man: overcoming these problems is one of the missions of Begoml.
Aiding in the resolution of the aforementioned problems is a trip to Italy made by these children who are nine years old or older. It is tallied that living in a family that cares about them helps them to prove themselves psychologically, and to have more faith and security in themselves and all that is at the base of the formation of a complete person. Living with Italian families covers the lack of affection that is at the base of their problems. The instruction, the affection, the friendship, and the faith in their fellow man compensates for the isolation from society and accommodates the confirmation of the individual rights of citizens. Thus, the children have examples to follow and they receive knowledge of how to behave in society: it is not exaggerated in stating that that many children have found a real family.
The conclusion of the studies of the Belorussian educators from the Boarding School of Bergoml is that the children have positive emotions when they participate in activities that they enjoy, like sewing, cutting, embroidery, crafts, or in artistic activities like singing, dancing, and theatre.
Recently and in many periods, some children from the Begoml Boarding School participated in an international theatre project organised by the ().
The experience was successful and it is on account of this activity that a psychological development of socialisation was noted. It is formative activities that influence the psychological development of the process of socialisation in a person. Teachers and educators affirm that, to prepare these children to face the future, they need to be given elaborate aesthetic education oriented at personal expression and also elaboration of practical experience.
The educators of the Bergoml Boarding School affirm that the experience of many years of work shows them that, notwithstanding the numerous attempts of all the teachers to socially recuperate these mentally disabled "orphans", often the results are not positive. The causes are many. It is difficult to introduce them into the workforce: in the last four years, the official number of those introduced in the working world has halved. The Belorussian educators need to help them find a job that is adapted to their capacities, and, keeping them under control, to help them to live with dignity.
The project to the extent that it aims to strengthen civil society, improving the conditions of the marginal people in Belarus.
In addition, the project is composed of a series of activities, which, all together, aim to consolidate the capacities of non-profit and local non-governmental organisations, which work in the Belorussian social sector.
The projected proposal has relevance in as much as it regards the support of the social reintegration of marginal groups in the local population, by means of appropriate innovative activities; for example, formation, transfer of specific technical know-how, publication of manuals, booklets, and advised procedures, meetings to make the conscience of the local population and of the authorities grow, acquisition of specific apparatuses and formation of their relative use, and acquisition of computer support and other office apparatuses.
The project provides for a series of activities in Belarus, primarily in the Begoml territory, that will be divided into activities carried out by counterparts in the other European Countries.
The activities that will be carried out from the present project are as follows:
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The project has continued and developed its activities since 1995 , through the () of Rome (Italy) and the in Begoml (Belarus) that beginning with the placement of Belorussian children with Italian families have used the same aim to culturally and socially integrate disabled people and to promote a better understanding of cultural practices and social communication that may come from literary and theatrical traditions, technological innovation and social and civil responsibilities.
In particular, the project follows a similar experimental project that took place from November 2000.
As it was conducted in the past, the project is divided into a series of theatrical animation laboratories and is conducted in parallel with different European Countries (with periodic checks to verify and publicly report progress with the preparation of theatrical performances, and video and photographic art exhibitions) that will involve:
– Belorussian children with mental retardation or psychiatric problems from an orphanage in the Chernobyl area;
– Italian people with mental disabilities and psychiatric illnesses,
– People coming from associations, social cooperatives, and Italian schools and parishes
– Theatre professionals
– Scientific university consultants
Begoml is a village 100 kilometres from Minsk, the capital of Belorus. The village has a few thousand inhabitants and a boarding house where live 153 children from 6 to 17 years of age. The Begoml orphanage is a boarding house for mentally handicapped children, that is children with mental deficiencies (or with physical problems or psychiatric difficulties or even with social disconnection) taken from the streets or from families with serious social problems.
The theme of physical, psychological, cultural and religious diversity will be represented by borrowing from the famous Pinocchio fable, which deals with metaphors of discrimination, but also social and cultural integration. The methodological premise of the proposed course in Belarus and in Italy (in schools, parishes, and in social associations and cooperatives) can be understood by considering the .
Physical, mental, sensory, cultural, political, religious, ethnic and economic differences are not considered motives to discriminate and marginalize with, but in mutual exchanges and in general growth, attention is constantly to . Therefore, the comes to search for one possible and common group to participate that to a certain young age, have fully lived through and experienced many similar things, like the individualisation of territorial problems and concrete proposals for solutions to peaceful and intercultural coexistence.
At the same time, the will investigate possible social and cultural interventions for a gradual passage from a common mentality that sees the disabled person like an object to help, to a new culture that recognises the value of every difference, valuing in particular the person as a living being.
The project, grew in Italy over many years (from Italian partners involved in the project), affirms that those people that normally are defined as "" are, as are all human beings, also . A handicapped person bears, necessarily, a disability that doesn’t allow him to fully enjoy many situation, which others normally do enjoy. Yet, a disability sometimes brings refinement to another physical, mental or spiritual qualities, sensory instruments to understand onÈs surroundings, making onÈs world different from others. Similarly, between Western culture and African and Asian cultures, or between cultures of the mind and culture of the body, it is believed that within the Western culture arises a battle between the official scholastic culture of the mind and the culture of the body. Here it isn’t necessary to establish useless hierarchies when it is necessary to put diverse cultures on the same table or better yet to create a culture of diversity. Diversity will no longer have a negative connotation of a person, but it will be an instrument possessed by the other (that I cannot have) to find an understanding of reality. More diverse instruments bring different views and ways of understanding the same reality: each different perception, when put together, can help us better figure out the most fundamental questions.
The project has as an objective creating courses and methodologies to help all people better understand their own specific and irreplaceable differences, to value their own diversity in exchange with others, to recognise the pertinence of personal truth and the necessity to create a religious, philosophical and ideological mosaic. In fact, all of us lives and assimilates to reality according to their personal expression, that come from their own personal social, cultural, political, religious, physical and psychological experiences. We each perceive parts of reality that others do not. Diversity is necessary to make fundamental assumptions and to reflect on the true reality. Each individual self, with his/her own sensibilities, and shaped by mental pathologies, physical handicaps, cultural experiences, political involvement, trials of faith, perceives only some aspects of the reality, in different levels and stages. The truth is unattainable by a single individual.
The has had relations with the Boarding House in Begoml (Belarus) since 1995, to promote hosting children from the families of the their partners, organising theatrical and game laboratories, preparing unifying missions providing nutritious food, outfitting them with work and toys. During their stay in Italy, the groups of Belorussians children were hosted in local schools. Many exchanges and confrontations were had with Italian children when preparing small performances. At the same time, sometimes friendly relations developed at local parishes in final artistic performances.
The project intends to give continuity and professionality to the preceding occasional and spontaneous relations between Belorussian and Italian children therefore also offering the occasion in Italy to deepen the basic themes that will appear in the future for the Belorussian children of Begoml.
Other practical goals of the project are the need of beginning a web (in Belarus, Italy and Europe) between the associations, parishes, public structures, the municipalities and people of the territories. It considers that initially in regards to the communal debates and great thought, it would be necessary to set up communal meeting occasions: through gathering during holidays, on days open to social outcasts one can begin to end fear of diversity that is rooted in the misunderstanding of social problems.
It is important upon arriving at the end of every step of the process to organise a large festival (a theatrical or cultural event).
The fundamental idea is not to have the event put on by one sole organisation, but that it should be organised by a group of actual local organisations, that will more than participate on the day of the event but also will intensely commit themselves in the months of preparation. They could be periodic performances intending to be occasions to deepen co-ordination and understanding of the different social, civil, political, and ecclesiastical realities, at the aim of creating spaces and times dedicated to the particular internal rhythms and balances of each person, especially for those that society normally marginalizes.
In Italy, a cultural integration process for people bearing mental and psychiatric handicaps has been enacted for circa 20 years. The present local associations work in diverse and complementary areas, with common attention to the person’s dignity. In order that work develops in Italy, in the middle of various centres, not risking to confine themselves in de facto ghettotisation, we hold that is opportune and essential to "blow up" the mariginalized situation to the European level. For all of Europe it is essential to rethink about the services available from people with different abilities in a new and different way. Not only must the present assistance services be open to disability, but so do the cultural and environmental associations, if not all people.
Attention to the diversity of the a person with mental disabilities or with psychiatric problems needs to be a point to reflect more globally on diversity and on the peculiarity of each human being.
The does not want to be a happy island, an escape from reality. Yet giving ample space to interior reflection and to group dynamics, a political problem and proposal in the broad sense of the term will be insinuated in the territory.
The experience developed in Italy by the partners involved in the project, pushes to confront society with a finished product of quality. The cultural challenge is then, within the workshop, to offer to the public a finished product of quality meant as a work in a progress, of what will be.
It must be considered that, in the era of disposable goods, less attention is paid to that which is behind an object, above all persons with human dignity. Here then is the importance of presenting the process as product, to give back meaningfulness to things and to the people that produced them.
The project would like to be a "work in progress", that is, an occasion to present oneself and to ask reasonable questions. Realising the ontological impossibility of definitive answers and the necessity to prepare a personal and collective apparatus of dialectical exchange, in the recovery of memory of history and of the species.
As previously described in other sections of the present proposal, the project continues and explores in further depth the activities begun in 1995 in both the of Rome (Italy) and the , that, beginning with the taking in of Belorussian children by Italian families, have had the double aim of social and cultural integration of persons with disabilities and of the promotion of cultural expressive forms and social communication that unite literary and theatrical tradition, technological innovation and civil and social duty.
The team proposed for the realisation of the project will be formed of 10 people, of which four will be from the of Rome, two from social Italian co-operatives, two representatives of the , and two from the partner Belorussian organisation.
In addition, the following Italian professional figures will be involved: theatre director, computer experts, filming and editing experts, psychomotor psychologists, and expert craftsmen. These professionals will be involved in various stages of the project to launch and co-ordinate the activities of the theatre workshops, of computer literacy and the implementation of an Internet site, of cinematic knowledge and production of video materials intended for circulation, of psychomotor rehabilitation and of acquisition of personal autonomy, of carpentry, stage design and tailoring. The professionals will be involved alongside the central team who will have duties of co-ordination and of continuing the activities advised by the experts, even in their absence. In addition, the experts must involve (as the Italian participants of the base team will be) Belarus educators in the activities and in specific seminar activities dedicated to them. Their methodological and operational decisions will always be presented in the course of meetings which will involve all the representatives of the partnership. Such decisions will also be carried out separately during the various founding stages of the project, in which the partners will be in communication through instruments of telecommunication and data transmission.
These requirements will form the basis for internal evaluation as well. In these meetings the reports compiled by the involved experts will be examined, and must contain descriptions of the methodologies used in the activities, highlighting the difficulties encountered and the achieved results. In the partner meetings, the instruments utilised will be evaluated and possibly corrected or substituted. Periodically the internal evaluations will be posted on the Internet asking the public to respond to the contents presented.
In regards to the guidelines relative to the promotion and development of the community network, the methodology that will be used will be analogous to that which, in the field of social intervention, is defined as .
The implies a direct connection with terms as local development and treatment, but reaffirms others such as democracy, social concensus, and participation. It is the product of a delicately balanced structure and designates the citizens as protagonists who are made jointly responsible with their local community. Making the community the initiator of development is a dynamic process that arouses an aimed at recovery from hardships and development of a sense of individuality and a that contributes to the defining of visions, strategies, and the politics of change.
The work of the proposed cultural mediation is based on the concept of culture, not as defined by statistical elements, but as an instrument of knowledge, of comprehension of social change and transformation, and of reflection, through experimentation and practice, on the necessity of deconstructing presumptions and symbolic universals of reference, considered universal.
In the planning and realisation of a system of intervention that fosters the integration of persons with disabilities, it necessarily follows, in the planning phase as well as in that relating to the evaluation of the adopted intervention, to be able to prepare a series of indicators that are able to assess the condition of new weak individuals in different areas of social life and able to highlight the most problematic dimensions.
The network’s strategy is based on the existent resources (school, family, work places and free time). It is necessary to integrate the organisational networks () with the help networks () and the informal networks with the formal ones. The social network represents a useful approach and a turning point in the way to analyse and interpret the help process, which favours the description of the relative structure of daily living and facilitates the intervening strategy of the social integration. The concept of the combines with the as an emotional, informative, interpersonal, and material support, which can both receive and exchange social networks. The close relationship between personal well being and the presence of social networks has immersed from many studies. Social support is important to confront forms of discomfort, suffering, vital changes and crises of maturation that appear in everyonÈs life. It is constructed of various elements: emotional nearness, advice, protections, and exchanges of resources and good materials. Prior to this, the quality of the network never exists, but is the result of capacity and personal motivation to create significant bonds.
The relational approach to the networks views the source of the well-being in the presence of vital and social networks, those which give support in a lifetime; above all during turning points and moments of crisis. Conversely, discomfort is characterised by a lack of positive relationships.
The strategies of webbed intervention are anchored in the adjustment of the connected analyses and the individualisation of the channels and agents of connection: it is from the linked exam that either the strategy of enhancing the value of the existing networks or that to construct new linked relationships is born. The linked paradigm considers the bearer of unease not as an isolated subject, but as a relational subject, that with its unease recounts its reality, composed of relationships.
The study of the networks is presented as a complex activity, which comprises the analyses of the network and extends until the projection of new structural relationships.
For this reason is important to mention the "tacit knowledge" that an operator has. It is a single and unconsciuous knowledge that helps him to solve a problems. Unfortunately it doesn’t become generally a collective knowledge. This knowledge becomes explicit when the operator takes active part in the process (). The action to undertake will be sometimes the activation of existing networks that are scattered and broken up, sometimes the creation of new networks with different and self-organized processes. These networks can be other groups of volunteer, associations, self-aid associations or new experiences in the territory for mediation of conflicts.
In addition, the social network will become an activity of social innovation, if it is able to develop new significance, if it uses the instruments of listening and comparison, and if it becomes a flexible instrument; that is, to multiply ideas and anticipate new resources. In this perspective, the approach used in the plan is the . A working reference point which is centred on the relationships between the individual and the context, which is applied to the attainment of results to amplify the awaited network by means of social and working networks.
In addition, the social network will become an activity of social innovation, if it is able to develop new significance, if it uses the instruments of listening and comparison, and if it becomes a flexible instrument; that is, to multiply ideas and anticipate new resources.
Another aspect is the need to integrate and to diversify the interventions between the public sector and social sector and between formal and informal network in which is extremely important the relationship between prevention, damage reduction and reintroduction in the social and working areas.
In particular is very important to meet the emerging needs, diversifying the network strategy, developing the culture of research, monitoring and evaluation of interventions also through documentation and circulation of data (data banks, Web sites, pubblications). The project perspective is a long term one and aims at avoiding emergencies and solving problems temporarily that often lead to fragmentation and burn-out.
The strategy of development will promote: new practices of integration between produced activities and cultural entertainment, new practices of integration between displaced elements of the territory, and new practices of integration between European citizens.
Horizontal and vertical level of and gender interact through permanent and equal dialogue existing in the system. Systems involved in are the indicative one, the formative one, of social politics, third sector, the productive one. The wideness of the partnership involved is itself as a first element of , as in the unified planning actions the same one has proceeded to a first informative exchange of best practices, data and methodologies and to the definition of common actions founded on the examination of the best practices till now realised by the single components of the partnership.
Cultural mediation work is based on a concept of culture not as a definition of static elements, but as an instrument of knowledge, of comprehension of social transformation and changing, of reflection, through experimentation and practice, too, on the necessity to de-construct presuppositions and referral symbolic universes, considered as universal.
The process of participating through which to develop the mainstreaming action is referred to the participative model of ,.The central element characterising this approach is the conceptualisation of the partnership as a constellation of cooperative and competitive interests, each of which is referred to a specific class of actors. From an instrumental view point this implies that the management inspired to the concept will be able to guarantee the different interests circularity, producing actual results in the foreseen project actions in which the stakeholders are represented by the participating different organizations to the partnership network: the public, the private, the non-profit, the local community and the final beneficiaries.
The organizational model consequently will be based upon the mechanism of participation and of democratic control through a wide social base, in which bringers of different interests converge, sharing however the project mission. This characteristic makes the created network a .
The guarantee of the pursuit of social aims is not given by the static nature of rules and bonds aprioristically based, but rather by a process of permanent and visible negotiation between the different components within the network, which allows so a greater control on the offered services quality and on the developed actions, guaranteeing the verification and the survey of practices to spread and to translate in oriented politics.
The process of territorial development aims to the formalization of partnership of project operating for the reconnaissance, evaluation and development of economic, human and local environmental resources, through the use of human resources (coming from partner organizations with catalyst functions of local occupational resources, promoters of activities of qualification and updating and mediators between the local communities and the institutions.
Among the main functions there are creation and maintenance of the local network of entrepreneurs, search and promotion of existing working opportunities, finding of similar initiatives and construction of stable links, survey of occupational potentialities and provisional planning related to entrepreneurial initiatives in realization, local mediation with the institutions aimed to the promotion of integrated ways related to the creation of new occupation.
The project set up, which is as a series of initiatives conceived as part of a wider action of local development, foresees for the partnership the role of acting organism constantly linked with the local of the territory, integrating them in the partnership network and increasing the area of activities in favour of the local community. The capitalization action could not leave aside from the construction of a permanent partnership, formally constituted, for the necessity to operate with and in partial accord with organizations diversified by , aim, legal nature, competences and intervention areas related to the following objectives: search and promotion of common strategies for the management of social and cultural politics on the territory; increasing of development strategies of the local community, taken as increase of the capacity to affect the social politics at a local and national level in terms of promotion and of project, too; creation and maintenance of the network through a permanent monitoring and evaluating action; constant updating of the local potential analysis.
Related to what has been displayed the activation of an integration process constant and transverse to the whole project system appears necessary, through the standardisation of formative, informative and methodical processes, for constructing compatible instruments and results for different institutional subjects, which summarize in itself concrete actions and capitalisation of methodologies of the innovation results: acquirement of inter-institutional mediation capacities; recovering of the centrality of territory needs; organization of conventions and sensitisation campaigns; informative campaigns about the objectives of partnership cooperation; joint projecting and formative activities among the operators of the diverse represented organizations; spreading of results.
To prepare and realize the intervention system and the politics to favour the insertion of subjects with disabilities, it?s essential, as in the projecting phase as well in the verification phase of the adopted interventions, to be able to prepare a series of indicators capable to grasp the condition of new weak subjects in the different fields of social life and capable to underline the most problematic dimensions in it.
Accompaniment represents the final phase of the project route, in a moment in which the orientation transforms itself in sharing (between the promoting organization and the collective beneficiary) the management of the route segment specifically aiming to the introduction in the working areas. In this way, the orientation can be considered as the individuation process of the best route to take. Individuation that occurs through the research of the best relation interacting between the internal resources (of the beneficiaries collectively and subjectively intended) and the concrete mobilization of the external resources (the territorial, public and of social private, as even eventually of entreprening organizations).
The accompaniment, instead, making its own the route foreseen from the orientation, consciously activates a process of functional negotiation between the involved parts, to project and jointly cover the way to reach results about working occupation. So, the accompaniment places itself as a transition process from realised project activities to activities aiming directly to the working insertion (to be realised), following procedures prepared from optimised strategies of orientation.
The project is born from the observation of the inserting difficulties of oligophrenic children in the Belorussian society and from the following necessity to sustain their process of personal autonomy and of social and working integration. For this, the () representing many Italian families involved in the reception of Belorussian children and tied to the Association itself, guarantees the self-funding of the activities in the future, through onÈs funds and through the activation of a wide circuit of donations, sponsorships and public Italian funding of specific project segments.