report - Nota bene

REPORT
TRANSATIONAL MEETING
Milan, 14-18 May 2007
Monday 14 May
On the Transnational Meeting’s opening day the partners from French Guyana and
Bratislava were welcomed at Palazzo Marino by the City Councillor for Work and
Employment Policies Andrea Mascaretti and the President of the Municipal Council
Manfredi Palmeri.
At 14.30 the partners were welcomed by the representatives of the Lead Partner for the
Town of Milan, the Lead Partner for the transnational macrophase “Fondazione Scuole
Civiche di Milano”, the University of Milano Bicocca, Multimediamente, Conform and the
other project partners accompanied by two interpreters, one for English and one for
French.
The President of the City Council, Manfredi Palmeri, met with the visiting delegations to
offer an institutional welcome in the Tapestries Hall (Sala degli Arazzi) and presented
Palazzo Marino, explained the City’s interest in the project and its institutional relevance.
The partners introduced and illustrated the Equal projects implemented in their Countries.
A few images of the institutional welcome meeting at Palazzo Marino
The partners were then offered a guided tour of Palazzo Marino.
At 16.00, at the end of the tour, the Councillor for Work and Employment Policies Andrea
Mascaretti met with the partners to welcome them.
Furthermore, thanks to the International Relations Office of the City of Milan and to the
Protocol Office, the partners were presented with the Photographic Book “Palazzo Marino
in Milano” as a gift for their transnational week in Italy.
At 17.00 the delegation was accompanied to the Accademia Internazionale della Musica at
Villa Simonetta. After a short visit of the school and a quick coffee break, the agenda for
the week was presented.
In the evening the partners were accompanied to the jazz concert “A Fiorenzo Carpi” at
Piccolo Teatro di Milano.
The partners attended the event that celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of Piccolo Teatro.
The String Quartet Musica/Realtà presented a movement of the only chamber work by
Carpi, followed by jazz sessions based on music from Harlequin and Pinocchio.
Tuesday 15 May
The actual week of visits to Milan’s social services and facilities began at 10.00 am.
The partners headed first to the Adriano kindergarten, located via Adriano 20.
The Manager, Ms. Gallina, illustrated the projects of the school. The partners were able to
see all the activities carried out by the children, from music to art laboratories, to using
recycled materials.
A few of the activities and laboratories of the Adriano kindergarten
The partners also had the opportunity to compare educational systems thanks to a
meeting with the school’s teaching staff to discuss and exchange ideas at the end of the
visit.
At lunchtime we were welcomed by Mr. Demo Collu, in charge of “Casa della Carità”
(“Charity Home”).
Before lunch at the soup kitchen, Mr Demo Collu explained the functioning and
management of Casa della Carità and presented the services offered (canteen, showers,
laundry, clothes repair, etc)
Casa della Carità is a shelter for people in distress. Men and women, Italians and
foreigners, old and young, families with children. Anyone experiencing social distress and
marginalization is welcome to come here, year-round, 24/7.
This facility offers simple lodging in a familiar atmosphere, with the aim of restoring the
dignity to people and allow them to get their life back in shape. Every day the Casa hosts
about one hundred guests: 52 men, 24 women, 15 in the area reserved to mothers with
children and 10 more in the section for people in psychological distress.
The Casa is also a shelter for all those who knock on the front door and are welcomed by
the Counselling Centre. Anyone can come here, their needs are listened to and an effort is
made to build a relationship. The facility also offers, when necessary, showering and
wardrobe facilities as well as medical examinations and legal counselling.
The auditorium of the Casa della Carità
In the early afternoon at 15.00 we visited the Ortless Residential Institution.
We were accompanied by the person in charge of the centre, who illustrated all the
services offered here. We visited the men’s and women’s dorms, daily centres and the
library equipped with a projection room.
The Residential Institution in Via Ortless.
A recreational room of the Residential Institution.
At around 16.30 we went to ICAM (Istituto Custodia Attenuata per Mamme – Open Prison
Institute for Mothers) and we were welcomed by the Manager, Ms. Manzelli, together with
Ms Corso, the Councillor for the Rights of Citizens, Nomadism and Right of Asylum; Social
integration for people in prison or subject to restrictions on their freedom; Rights of children
of the Province of Milan.
ICAM was inaugurated in April 2007 in Milano and it is the first facility of its kind in Italy.
With a surface of 500 square meters, it is located in via Macedonio Melloni 51/ and it is set
up to offer maximum comfort. The rooms are welcoming and bright and can accommodate
up to 12 mothers, there are also more customised environments like the infirmary, the
playroom, the library, the educational room for women, a fully equipped kitchen and a
lounge, so as to ensure the respect of cultural and eating diversities.
Surveillance is implemented by agents of the prison administration police specifically
trained and familiar with this context, who do not wear a uniform. The mothers and their
children can remain here until the end of their sentence. If the sentence exceeds the date
by which children turn 3, the mother will return to the jailhouse while the children will be
placed in foster care (families or institutes) as required by law.
The partners were offered the opportunity to visit the entire facility.
Wednesday 16 May
At 9.30 we visited the nursery school of the University of Milano Bicocca.
The partners were greeted by Dean of the Faculty of Educational Sciences of Milano
Bicocca and the manager of the nursery school, Prof. Susanna Mantovani.
Following a brief presentation of the services offered by this facility, educator Piera Braga
accompanied us on a visit of the premises.
The nursery school can welcome up to seventy young children in a completely renewed
wing of the Sandro Pertini Elementary School located in via Thomas Mann. Here the
children - who are the sons and daughters of the Milan University staff as well as of the
companies participating in this initiative (Deutsche Bank, Pirelli and Pirelli Real Estate in
cooperation with Sodalitas) and residents in the area - are welcomed in a well-kept, safe
environment where high quality standards are associated to a determination to search for
new processes and proposals for children and their parents.
The pedagogical project is coordinated by the Faculty of Educational Sciences of
Università Bicocca, including some of the Italian scholars most actively involved and
renown nationally and internationally in the field of child and family care. Building on the
consolidated tradition of Milan’s Municipal Early Childhood Centres, the experience of
Bambini Bicocca has opened up internationally, thanks to the dialogue set up with other
such centres in foreign Universities, with particular emphasis research on expressive
languages, early scientific experiences and the intercultural dimension.
In the morning the partners attended a concert for the children offered by several
musicians of Milan’s State University.
After a coffee break at 11.30 we went to the Fondazione Fratelli di San Francesco.
The Friars Minor of the Convent of Sant’Angelo have offered, since the 1400s, their
assistance to derelicts and social outcasts. The primary services provided by the
Foundation (canteen, showers, doctor’s surgery, dentist’s surgery, first hospitality, mobile
unit, solidarity dispatch service) provide to the weakest groups a comprehensive range of
services, taking into account both primary and secondary needs (minors’ centres,
secondary hospitality centres, Italian language courses for foreigners, a call centre for the
elderly, cultural events, etc.)
The person in charge, Mr Diriberto, presented all the activities of the Foundation to the
partners and personally took them on a tour of the premises. It was possible to visit only
some of the active services (doctor’s surgeries, bus service) because others, such as
dorms, are located elsewhere in various parts of town.
Lunch at Brelin, typical Milanese restaurant.
At 14.30 we held our first meeting at the seat of the Fondazione Scuole Civiche Milano,
located at via Alzaia Naviglio Grande 20.
The first item on the agenda required the French delegation to present the state-of-the-art
of the project, resuming discussions from where we had left them at the last meeting in
Bratislava.
Website, partner in charge Bratislava, need to be implemented.
Definition of joint product, good practices, models, critical issues: a) presentation, b)
projects – FR emergency area and observatory, IT child care and reconciliation, SK
Homeless and occupation c) conclusions.
*Enclosed to this document are the minutes of the meeting (Annex A)
In the evening the partners were presented by the City of Milan with an invitation to attend
the Ballet “Sleeping Beauty” at Teatro alla Scala.
Thursday 17 May
At 9.30 the delegation was welcomed at the Training Centre “Centro di Formazione San
Giusto”, by the Director of the Section for Employment Policies and Occupation, Mr Walter
Cavalieri, the Director of Training Centres Services, Mr. Aldo Fumagalli, and the person in
charge of the centre, Ms Frigeri.
After a visit with expert Remo Melloni to the Museum of Puppets and Marionettes housed
inside the school, the partners attended the various activities carried out by the disabled at
the centre;
computer training, gardening and market gardening, paper-transformation workshops.
The disabled pupils of the Centre welcomed and greeted the partners and presented them
with a much appreciated buffet, prepared in their honour by the section of the Centre
devoted to cooking school activities.
At the end of the visit, the guests were invited to participate in a general meeting, where
the partners showed great interest and a desire to learn more particularly as regards the
“method of the virtual currency”.
There followed a visit to the training centre in via Fleming.
Here the activities carried out by the pupils were presented, including paper
transformation, the school for cooks, carpentry and market gardening.
Later in the morning we reached the school for social workers at Viale G. d’Annunzio 15.
Ms Maria Mormino together with the person in charge of the school Ms Pedone presented
the school and its activities.
Lunch was held at the Restaurant “Ai Sabbioni”
In the early afternoon the delegation visited various Service Departments of the Central
Directorate for Quality, Services to the Citizens, and Municipal Services Simplification of
the City of Milan.
Mr Bua, general director of the Department, welcomed the partners and offered a tour of
the premises, illustrating in detail the Registry Office for Foreigners.
Lastly, the partners visited the exhibition on Kandinsky and Abstract painting in 1930- 1950
at Palazzo Reale.
KANDINSKY and abstract painting in Italy - 1930 – 1950
On 11 January 1947 Palazzo Reale in Milan hosted the opening of the
great art event “Arte italiana e concreta”: the first great European
exhibition on abstract art after the end of the war, where Kandinsky
was one of the participating European masters.
Exactly 60 years later, the Municipality of Milan pays tribute to this
great Russian artist with this exhibition, also to analyse and emphasise
his strong connection with abstract art in Italy between 1930 and 1950.
At 20.30 a Gala dinner was held at the Golf House of the Castle of Tolcinasco
Friday 18 May
At 10.00 the final meeting was held at the seat of Fondazione Scuole Civiche di Milano.
Discussions were held on the evaluation of activities and the validation of the model
drafted by the person in charge of the Observatory, Marie Claire Perriault (French
Guyana).
The proposed model consists in monitoring activities with a self-assessment of the
activities implemented.
Each partner is required to fill it in.
The categories were compared one by one. The model consists of an assessment of the
relevance, coherence, impact and results, transfer and reproducibility of good practices.
The areas under analysis concern all the activities envisaged under the cooperation
agreement, including the Observatory, the website, study visits and themed groups,
mainstreaming and dissemination of results and lastly administrative aspects. Following
clarifications on the instrument presented and its implementation, the model was validated
by each Partner.
The deadline for the submission of the file was set for the end of July 07.
Moreover a number of essential points were resumed and discussed in depth with
reference to the transnational work plan, in order to define a calendar of activities and
deadlines, according to the conclusion of the various projects, instrumental in the definition
and dissemination of the joint product:
1) Delivery of contents draft from each partner / by end of July
2) Revision of drafts and materials, re-issuing of the final document by Dafne Bòrel
(French Guyana) / October
3) November graphics changes if required
4) Study and drafting of graphics proposals for CD and subsequent production
5) 1000 copies of CD to be produced by late December
6) Dissemination
The minutes of this meeting are enclosed to this document (Annex B)
Lastly, the new PROGRESS programme was presented and distributed to all Partners in
order to develop jointly future project proposals.
The call for proposals was read aloud and followed by a short brainstorming session.
The Partners gathered for their last lunch together, followed by a farewell that officially
concluded the agenda of the week devoted to the transnational meeting.