Mòvesi APS

Movesi is a NGO operating since January 2023, in a rural internal area like many in Europe, in the deep of the province of Salerno. It is a cross-municipal organisation working on local community development with a focus on rural areas and internationalisation. Its seat is in Buccino, the centre of so called “Ancient Volcei”. It is a member of the national network ARCI. The operative group of Movesi is active on the territory for more than 2 years and has collaborated with lots of organisations and informal groups in the area. Movesi operates in a marginal territory, bordeat the border of two regions (Campania and Basilicata) and three provinces (Salerno, Avellino and Potenza). The area is characterised by very deep rooted phenomena like depopulation, ageing population, fragmentation of communities, low levels of civic participation to community life. This vicious circle has detrimental effects on quality of life in general and on life opportunities especially for young people. The awareness, derived from ecology and permaculture, that marginal areas are fertile spaces capable of generating opportunities and emerging qualities, has motivated us to start our activities, for the regeneration of our territory. The main mission of Movesi is “facilitating movements”, which means generating fluxes of people and ideas capable of igniting processes of change in territories where many have lost hope and opportunities, especially for young people, constantly languish. The main mission of Movesi is to reconnect, stimulate and empower local communities by creating bridges, opportunities and good narratives and by fostering activism among young people, municipalities, CSOs and entrepreneurs and between people and organisations from different communities or municipalities. We are actively involved in the design of projects of change at the local level and we constantly promote and support the dialogue between local authorities, citizens, young people and entrepreneurs. Movesi is at the service of local organisations and informal groups, especially of young people. We support informal groups of young people to develop their own ideas, to ignite processes of change in rural areas, and to sustain their personal development (e.g. we promote Erasmus+ opportunities among young people not only as participants but also as active promoters). Also, we generally act as promoters of intercultural projects (cultural exchanges, Erasmus+ KA1, KA2), of solidarity and community regeneration projects, of activities regarding permaculture (e.g. our project Giardino Pedagogico) and environmental protection. The main mission of Mòvesi could be summarised in the creation of new visions, opportunities and innovations for communities and young people, who are those suffering the most the difficulties of living in internal rural areas of South Italy. We believe that it is essential to introduce elements of innovation and sometimes also of provocation into communities which are characterised by deep immobility and impermeability to external ideas and good practices. Our vision consists in: better and more cohesive communities, connected among themselves, opened to opportunities at regional, national, european and international level, with lower levels of fragmentation and with a better understanding of their problems (depopulation for instance) and of their opportunities (slow tourism, permaculture, environmental protection and enhancement); more active civil society in our villages willing to collaborate with partners from other municipalities or regions and so on; active and responsive public authorities open to collaboration between each other and with CSOs operating on the territory. The culture of Mòvesi is based on: constant experimentation: a must for our stagnating rural areas; proactivity: a must for young people living in them; rootedness in local community; constant service and support to the efforts of civil society in rural areas; cross-municipal focus: against any form of campanilism that dominate the mindset of our territory; intergenerational reach; At Mòvesi we are a group of people coming from the same territory but living in different villages and even living in different countries. A lot of our work must take place offline with help of digital tools and technologies for remote work. However, in a small organisation they are not enough: proactivity and responsibility are key to success! At Movesi rootedness is a guiding principle. Any project we do and any action must have an impact on the local community, on young people living in rural areas and on the civil society. Even when we do international projects, we always bring the point of view, the problems and the perspectives of the place in which we operate. Also, in any action we do, even when it comes to international projects, we involve local actors!