Casa della Cooperazione

Casa della Cooperazione - House of Cooperation is based in a property confiscated to Mafia: the Municipality of Palermo assigned the building to CISS - International South South Cooperation - in 2015, after 22 years of total abandonment. The building renovation started in 2016, within a project funded by “Foundation with the South” with a project managed by CISS. After the renovation, House of Cooperation has been opened on 16th March 2017, and started to work as a youth cultural centre for social and cultural promotion in one of the most beautiful and, at the same time, disadvataged areas of Palermo, called Sant’Erasmo, a quite small neighbourhood next to the sea and to the Brancaccio area. What is Casa della Cooperazione? Library, cultural centre, project management laboratory, space to promote our values and mission, mediation space among institution, services and citizens, childcare space, theatrical and musical stage, coffee bar: Casa della cooperazione was born and is growing as a complex system, where each sector of activity represent a different branch of the same tree. Despite the difficulties, due to the geographical distance from the City Centre, to the lack of services in the area and due to the complex social context, Casa della Cooperazione keeps going forward its challenge: to build a driving centre for ideas and projects, be a shared space and a cultural centre open to everyone. The promotion of the concept of community passes by a regular meeting and exchange, the mutual recognition as part of the community. Through the everyday commitment and our presence in the neighbourhood we continue and try, constantly, to work in this direction. Our aims: - To promote the respect of fundamental human rights and the values of tolerance, intercultural dialogue and international cooperation; - To encourage youth engagement and participation in the community, as well as their active role as positive change-makers in the society; - To valorize the role of art and culture as means of emancipation for disadvantaged and marginalized communities; - To promote the active participation and the inclusion of marginalized people (migrants, refugees, people with special needs, people with disabilities, with economic/cultural obstacles) in the society; - To promote the social and cultural development of the neighborhood, by offering activities, organizing initiatives and laboratories for children, young people and adults of the area. Our activities: - Project management permanent laboratory; - Counselling and job orientation activities for young people; - Youth exchanges, youth workers' training; - Library "CE.DOC F. P. Buzzola", Documentation Center on the South of the world; - Cultural initiatives, language courses, movies screenings, exhibitions, theatrical performances; - Educational laboratories with children; - Youth-led initiatives.