AICEM – Associazione Internazionale per la Cooperazione e l'Educazione nel Mondo –

AICEM – Associazione Internazionale per la Cooperazione e l'Educazione nel Mondo – is a non-profit, youth organisation, created by a group of active young people aware of challenges coming from a changing international context. AICEM’s main aim is promoting participatory forms of cooperation, which benefit from collaboration and partnerships between the civil society and local, national, European and International organisations, to implement processes of development, which respect cultural diversity while preserving local peculiarities. Since youth involvement has been considered as a fundamental element within the new international context, AICEM has proposed tself as a venue where young people can have the opportunity to share their ideas, competencies and passions with their community’s members in order to foster youth participation and civic integration. In this respect, promoting volunteerism, as a form of social inclusion and as a self-development instrument, has become a central focus of the organisation. These reflections merged into AICEM’s vision, according to which its members envisage a world where youth can develop freely their competencies, skills and personality to be fully involved in their social reality and in order to became dynamic actors of their community. Following this path, the main purpose of AICEM’s mission has become spreading a culture of cooperation, active citizenship and social inclusion through the active involvement of youth in projects and activities aiming to implement new cultural and social models, where everyone can recognize and respect human rights. AICEM has identified two main target groups for its activities. The first one consists of children from zero to 14 years old, while the second one is made of youth from 15 to 30 years old. Contemporarily, targets of the organisation are volunteers, youth workers and instructors who work in the youth field. In order to achieve its objectives, AICEM has based its work on three main tools, deeply interconnected: cooperation, education and international exchanges. By using these channels, the organisation has promoted activities related to four macro-areas: • Sustainable development • Health, sport and healthy lifestyles • Human rights, Citizenship and Participation • Integration and Social Inclusion Organisation’s regular activities include volunteers’ involvement in processes of information sharing regarding youth policies, youth opportunities and good practices. The organisation, also, promotes activities aiming to provide social assistance and to enhance the inclusion of disadvantaged young people within their communities. Furthermore, AICEM’s volunteers take part to the implementation of educational projects, such as training courses, seminars and workshops related to the above mentioned areas, which favor youth personal development while promoting an increased sense of civic engagement.