From the 21st to 25th of September 2015 one of the planned workshops on the project “Volunteering – factor for realization” took place, financed by the Erasmus+ program, KD2. The host was the Art Centre “Danilo Dolci” in Palermo, Italy.
During the me
eting the project’s staff (4 members for the leading organization and 1 for the partnering organization CARDO, Slovakia) visited Sicilian institutes and organisations , working with national and international volunteers and completed an ideas exchange for accomplishing effective programs, developing skills and competence in volunteers.
The workshop included a meeting of “Libera” – a net
work of over 1500 associations, groups, schools and others, actively fighting with the influence of the Italian mafia, by developing educational programs for the youth and social cooperatives.
In the attractive centre 
“Moltivioti” (in translation “many faces”) the team witnessed a model of a social enterprise, developed entirely with volunteers and aimed at cultural growth and the realization of real social change. There the team took part in a focus group with 6 international volunteers, discussing their motivation, challenges and the benefits of their work.
Included in the program was a visit of two centres for work with migrants and refugees. Centre “Ubunti”, which has been functioning for more than 10 yea
rs as a kindergarten for free care and school preparation for children from refugee families and centre “Astralli” – offering over 10 social services for migrants (cuisine, accommodation, schooling, legal support, medical centre, realization on the labor market and others)
The meeting with the colleagues from research centre CESIE who presented the Italian framework and their own project experience for validating the skills acquired through volunteering was also extremely helpful .
