Palazzo Marino. In Sala Alessi “Linea diretta con i bambini e i ragazzi della città”
The results of the project in support of the Children's Guarantor were presented
Milan, May 30 2019 – Maggior supporto alla genitorialità, più spazi di ascolto, servizi di protezione dell’infanzia e d’integrazione più numerosi soprattutto nelle periferie. Queste alcune delle richieste delle famiglie e dei bambini di Milano presentate oggi durante l’evento “Linea diretta con i bambini e i ragazzi della città” tenuto in Sala Alessi di Palazzo Marino a chiusura del progetto L. 285 “Garante Infanzia di Milano - azioni di supporto” realizzato per la Garante dei Diritti per l’Infanzia e l’Adolescenza del Comune di Milano da Terre des Hommes con i partner Istituto per la Ricerca Sociale, Associazione Alice, Campo Teatrale. Presenti in sala Lamberto Bertolé - Presidente del Consiglio comunale, Laura Galimberti - Assessore all’Educazione e Istruzione e Pierfrancesco Majorino - Assessore Politiche sociali, Salute e Diritti.
The project presented to the citizens had as its main objectives the dissemination of knowledge of their rights among the children and young people of Milan as well as among the operators who deal with them in various capacities and the improvement of the services offered to children by the Municipality itself.
In the past year, thanks to the 'Childhood Guarantor - Support Actions' project, 1.350 children and young people were interviewed and 21 childcare facilities - from primary to secondary schools - and 900 families were contacted. Young people, in particular, they were also involved in an open and direct discussion on delicate topics, useful for strengthening their ability to prevent and protect themselves from phenomena such as: child abuse, violence and gender discrimination, bullying, cyberbullying and sexting. To support this work, 3 school web radios, present in the room today, also intervened, giving voice to the guests of the event and who will continue to deal with these issues.
“This is an accurate and valuable work of listening and analysis – comments the President of the Municipal Council Lamberto Bertolé -, a useful tool available to the Administration, with regards to the requests that have emerged regarding the parents, and of those who, like the Children's Guarantor or the service operators, carries out a task that is not at all simple and important, that of understanding the most effective way to help children and young people deal with phenomena that can strongly influence their development".
Anna Maria Caruso - Guarantor of the Rights of Children and Adolescents, Municipality of Milan states: "As a guarantor of rights I have known many of the numerous initiatives that deal with the fragility of children and young people and I have noted the lack of homogeneity of the offers in the various Municipalities.
This project was created to facilitate access to the services and opportunities that every child should have, regardless of their family and social conditions and the municipality of jurisdiction. Knowing that you have rights makes the request and the expectation of seeing them satisfied stronger.”
“The experience of this project at the service of the Office of the Guarantor for Children and Adolescents of the city of Milan has allowed us to bring out a rather clear picture of the needs and fragilities of the children of our city”, declares Federica Giannotta – Italian Project Manager of Terre des Hommes. “It would be valuable to be able from now on to complete the work started by systematizing all those multi-sectoral actions that were successfully tested during the project and which made it possible to intercept needs from different angles, while at the same time giving voice, in a direct way, sincere and constructive, to the hundreds of children and young people involved in this delicate work".
The Institute for Social Research conducted two investigations. The first research was conducted with the families of children who attend nursery schools and nursery schools in the Municipality of Milan and also involved the school directors of the same structures. From this first survey a rather positive scenario emerged on the educational offer in the 0-6 age group, although some improvements are hoped for, such as the decrease in the cost of nursery schools and the greater availability of places in educational structures. Milanese boys and girls spend on average more than 7 hours a day in nursery or nursery school. The service timetables, which include large before and after school periods, are considered adequate for the life and work needs of families, in the face of a need for greater flexibility in the timetables of public health services, including pediatric ones. What parents lack is adequate parenting support from local social services which should be strengthened, for example by providing a neighborhood service to turn to before and after the birth of their child, or support for their educational function through a individual psycho-pedagogical support to deal with difficult situations.
The second research was aimed at defining a model for evaluating the outcomes of the projects pursuant to Law 285, aimed at families and minors on parenting issues. The research work pursued a dual purpose: on the one hand, to enhance the data and information collected through the monitoring and evaluation tools and procedures currently in use; on the other, suggest changes, additions and ideas with a view to overall improvement of the system. The aim is to create a system capable of highlighting the results of the projects and proposing possible ideas for the (re)programming of policies for children and adolescents in the city area.
For the ProteggiMI campaign, the Alice Onlus Association created a Primary Prevention path on issues related to mistreatment and abuse in developmental age and actively involved 350 primary and lower secondary school students. The spontaneous stories produced by the students and the discussion with the teachers have brought to light glimpses of social discomfort linked to the neglect on the part of the adults of reference who should take care of the children. Interventions are not always timely and sufficient. Both children and teachers report the almost total absence of school desks dedicated to listening to and accepting stories that are often painful and tiring. Furthermore, although schools do everything possible to guarantee integration with foreign minors, they often find themselves having to deal with staff shortages and significant cultural and linguistic barriers. It is therefore necessary to expand collaborations between cultural centers and Social Services in order to guarantee, first and foremost, the correct integration of parents.
Almost 1.000 high school students[1] participated in the ProteggiMI Tour, carried out in collaboration with the ScuolaZoo community, to stimulate students' activation of positive actions and contents, transforming them into protagonists of a new culture against violence, thanks to reflection on thorny issues such as violence and gender discrimination, bullying, cyberbullying and sexting.
The activities of three school WebRadios (USB Radio of the Borsi Institute, Radio Web Cardano of the high school of the same name, GT Radio of the Gentileschi Institute) in the Milan area were also promoted within the ProteggiMI campaign. Webradios are radio stations broadcast on the Web born from the resourcefulness of young people, whose programming today embraces the most varied themes linked to the daily life of young people. With the project, the web radios have included windows of information not only on the action of the Office of the Guarantor, but above all on fundamental issues for children, such as violence, discrimination, bullying, sport, safety, addictions, rights and participation.
The event was enriched by theatrical interludes from the JukeBox show by Diritti di Campo Teatrale and by the preview of the docufilm "Invisibili", stories of young people from the city of Milan, directed by Luca Gatti. Both were produced and specially made for the project.
Since January 2016, the Municipality of Milan has had a Guarantor for the rights of children and adolescents. The Guarantor operates as an autonomous and independent figure, can report cases of violation of minors' rights to the competent authorities, and can offer suggestions and opinions regarding minors. The Guarantor - who was appointed by the Mayor, and is Dr. Anna Maria Caruso - will remain in office for five years. In recent years you have already started meetings with multiple organizations that deal with childhood and adolescence in Milan, and you are available to listen to problems that concern children and young people. Contacts: Garante.Infanzia@comune.milano.it
Terre des Hommes has been on the front line since 1960 to protect children around the world from violence, abuse and exploitation and to ensure that every child has school, informal education, medical care and food. Terre des Hommes is currently present in 67 countries with 816 projects for children. The Terre des Hommes Italia Foundation is part of the Terre des Hommes International Federation, works in partnership with EU DG ECHO and is accredited by the European Union, the UN, USAID and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
For information and registration: www.terredeshommes.it
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Updated: 30/05/2019