Italy

Germany’s worldwide cultural institution seeks to promote German language learning and international cultural cooperation, while conveying a comprehensive image of Germany. In this age of new global challenges, the Goethe-Institut strives to deepen understanding between cultures and enhance Germany’s standing worldwide. At the time being, the Goethe-Institut has 136 establishments and 11 liaison offices in 93 different countries and 13 in Germany itself. In addition, it operates 77 reading rooms, dialogue points and information centres, 138 bilateral cultural associations, 55 language learning centres and 181 teacher’s aid centres.

Awareness: we organize a series of conferences and seminars on various topics to promote a better understanding of our world.
Advocacy: we seek to make changes that can improve our society and to seek a sustainable change.
Activity: we promote all activities that give a better understanding of the different cultures both locally and worldwide.
Attainment: we organize workshops and trainings especially for the disadvantaged members of the society.

Awareness: we organize a series of conferences and seminars on various topics to promote a better understanding of our world.
Advocacy: we seek to make changes that can improve our society and to seek a sustainable change.
Activity: we promote all activities that give a better understanding of the different cultures both locally and worldwide.
Attainment: we organize workshops and trainings especially for the disadvantaged members of the society.

We fight against poverty and injustice to guarantee vulnerable communities the access to water, food, health, education and work. We aim to develop critical thinking and challenge stereotypes to sustain the change towards a fairer and more sustainable world. Specifically, we work with people who are often the most disadvantaged in their communities: women, children and persons with disabilities.
GVC implements  multi-sector programs useful in helping to remove the causes of poverty and allowing each person to enjoy their basic human rights: right to food (13 projects), right to water and sanitation (7 projects), right to health (3 projects),  right to decent work and participation in social and economic life through fairer development models (9 projects). Recognizing environmental protection as an absolutely necessary condition for reaching these goals, 18 projects in 2014 were dedicated to protecting natural resources and 8 to promoting education towards global citizenship and advocacy activities.

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SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT AND REMINDER OF FUTURE ACTIVITIES 2019-2022
During these years HABITAT WORLD has worked on the elaboration and organization of projects, proposals, initiatives, national and international conferences, connecting civil, scientific and professional society with the different institutional levels to develop contents in line with the needs of protection, enhancement and innovation of our immense environmental and cultural heritage, on the one hand, and following the Euro-Mediterranean strategies of the Adriatic-Ionian and Western Mediterranean macro-regions, on the other.
We have been particularly dedicated:
- to the itinerant event/workshop created by us under the name “Biennale Habitat"; which involved in the two editions 2012- 2014 and 2016-2018 about 25 cities in countries such as Greece, Croatia, Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro, Malta, Tunisia, etc. as well as different regions of Italy, working with associations, schools, universities, chambers of commerce, local and regional authorities, international bodies and networks that deal with research, environment, art and culture in various Euro-Mediterranean contexts;
- participated actively in Expo 2015 at the Aquae pavilion, with the exhibition of an award-winning project for the Venice Lagoon and the Waterways of the Northern Adriatic;
- worked at conferences in Rome and Mogadishu for the closure of memoranda of understanding between Italian Chambers of Commerce and Chambers of Commerce in Somalia to develop training, creation of Italian-Somali companies and for the launch of sustainable cooperation projects for agriculture, green building and craftsmanship in the Horn of Africa;
- organized training seminars and workshops on urban and landscape regeneration in collaboration with professional bodies;
- prepared projects for the regeneration of the coastline in Cilento and Ugento, and redevelopment projects for the repopulation of the historical villages of Central and Southern Italy.
Our latest initiatives in the Euro-Mediterranean context are:
- the elaboration and launch of an international master's degree SED MED - SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AREA - centred on the Economies of the Sea and the Blue Economy, for the creation of specific professional figures for the realization and management of a special economic region for the sustainable development of the Mediterranean (in collaboration with Unioncamere, Assonautica Italiana, Assocamerestero and the eCampus university);
- the creation of an international award dedicated to the “Mediterranean World Heritage"; for the research and dissemination of innovative projects from all Mediterranean countries aimed at sustainable development, environmental protection, protection and enhancement of cultural heritage.
The MEDITERRANEN HERITAGE OF HUMANITY award, organised in Alghero by bodies such as the Sassari Chamber of Commerce, Assonautica Nord Sardegna with a consortium of municipalities in the area, was a great success with the public and the press. The first prize was awarded in the category "art and culture"; to the Egyptian Hamdy Mahamud Elesetouhy for the project "Shazli";, the name of a village that was in danger of disappearing into the desert. The project concerns its requalification by recovering ancient construction techniques, to be handed down to the young people involved in the project and using local materials. The reconstruction and creation of common areas for activities related to pastoralism, social and religious life, the recovery of water and its use through systems that exploit the action of the wind, has allowed the local community to regain not only dignity and chance of survival, working, but also to keep alive a culture that has become an opportunity for the future. For the category "sustainable recovery and regeneration projects";, the first prize chosen by the jury is the Greek project "Costa Nostrum"; - Certification Standard for the Sustainable Management & Development of Mediterranean Beaches by Vasileios Zisimopoulus. The project is based on a methodology of environmental quality applied and tested in Crete that provides the possibility to certify beaches and coastal areas using a range of parameters including the judgment of tourists and users of services. The considerable value of the projects presented and in particular of the projects that received special mentions and awards was much appreciated and around the initiative of the award gathered distinguished guests, experts, delegates of important networks such as WISTA, MEDPAN, ASCAME, etc. and diplomatic representatives of the countries that participated in this first edition and that are carefully following the development and growth of this large archive of innovative projects to be disseminated and connected to create cultural bridges and knowledge between the Mediterranean countries. IEMED has also expressed its interest in deepening a collaboration with Habitat World in the coming months.
Already in this first edition the Ambassadors in Italy of Egypt H. E. Hisham Badr, Croatia H. E. Jasen Mesic and Albania H. E. Anila Bitri Lani - representing the countries of the southern shore of the Mediterranean, the EU member countries and candidate countries - have actively participated - since the research of the projects to be nominated for the prize as well as the final day on May 4th - with whom we have established a relationship of collaboration on the projects and dissemination initiatives in the countries of their area of reference. The sustainable development of the Mediterranean area and cultural cooperation are common objectives that can be strengthened through the active and proactive collaboration of the best sensitive minds and forward-looking visions that we are seeking and connecting through the initiative of the Award. Our association Habitat World aims to follow and make concrete the positive effects for the quality of life and awareness of our economic potential, if related to the protection and enhancement of the historical-cultural, environmental-landscape, everything, and the extraordinary mosaic of diversity that composes it. The overall strategy therefore translates into targeted actions that, in synergy, can make the Mediterranean the cradle of enlightened and renewed civilizations.
Habitat World is crucially also a contact point for Mediterranean initiatives for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MAECI) of the Government of Italy and for the Diplomatic Community in Italy. Habitat World is also working closely with a number of sea and mountain communities in and around the Mediterranean bringing their specific agenda to the fore of national and international platforms.
The third Biennale Habitat 2020-2022 is currently being developed:

Costruzione di una rete mediterranea sui temi dell'inclusione e rivolta in particolare modo al disagio giovanile. Costruzione di un Polo Velico Internazionale coordinato e sostenuto da un pool di pedagogisti, antropologi, sociologi ed esperti di navigazione, in grado di ospitare giovani provenienti dai Paesi del Mediterraneo e con il doppio scopo di incrementare i processi di inclusione sociale e contemporaneamente di dare ascolto alle emergenze e alle voci della differenza e del disagio giovanile.

To realize innovative actions aiming at the acquaintance, cataloguing and preservation of the Euro Mediterranean Cultural Heritage and promoting the enhancement of the Cultural Heritage as a factor of development in the Euro Mediterranean area.
To promote the development of ITCs aiming at the preservation and management of the Euro-Mediterranean Cultural Heritage.

At international level Hub has promoted and/or participated to several training courses in the relevant areas of the current application (e.g.  Most recent international traning courses : "Human rights: Be Open, Be Active, Be Youth Peace Ambassadors" , Young Peacebuilders Forum, Active Citizenship through simulations games, Peace Is) or has been selected to public events thanks to its initatives (Catania 2.0 initiative was selected by the Council of Europe as one of the 25 best-practices in the field of youth and democracy, presented at the 2013 World Forum for Democracy) . At local level Hub is actively involved in charity initiatives, volunteerism, organization of conferences and workshop related to human rights and peace education. It has also been selcted by other NGO's and institutions as Project Coordinator activities related to sustainability and peace-building.
Next July, we will host a training course "Learnig, from, with and about Refugees" with 15 NGO's coming from 15 different countries in Sicily.