Identity
Sementera
It was 4 October 1995 — I remember it perfectly.
Many years have passed since the founding of Associazione Sementera.
Francesco, who felt as though he didn't exist;
Caterina, who lived isolated from the world and no longer wanted to see anyone;
and then Davide, who longed for a world that didn't exist;
… and Maria, who hadn't spoken in years.
The mission of Sementera
To develop and use innovative therapies to help people with mental health conditions. To rehabilitate them in their daily lives. The type of therapy pursued over the years by Associazione Sementera is Non-Verbal therapy. The method addresses the verbal deficit of psychotic and autistic patients, proposing non-verbal forms of communication such as amniotic water therapy, mirror drawing and video integration.
The Sementera working group then created Sensory Integration Therapy, technology-mediated (using the Painteraction platform and the Avatart software), giving rise to Associazione Atlas and establishing, in 2016, the Atlas Centre in Perugia. The Atlas Centre is today a space for inclusion, growth, training and research.
Atlas has embraced the challenge of the "digital revolution" and has ensured that new multimedia and technological tools are not instruments of isolation but vehicles for expression and deep connection, through a system of interactive software (the Painteraction System); a platform of technological tools that supports therapists in building a relationship with patients, overcoming communication barriers and socialisation difficulties in an entirely innovative and effective way.
The system is used by the association's practitioners at the Atlas Centre and at organisations that request it. It benefits people with autism, psychosis, neurodevelopmental disorders, multiple disabilities, relational difficulties and internet addiction. The innovative method of Atlas and the methods of Sementera continue to help hundreds of people, to train therapists, and receive a great deal of recognition and appreciation in the scientific community.
The Charlemagne Foundation's involvement
Ours is a relationship built over many years, based essentially on core funding. Since 2002 we have supported the long-term stability, growth and evolution of the association, and have also helped foster the establishment of Associazione Atlas.
The Foundation's support has not been limited to the association's individual initiatives, but has accompanied the organisation as a whole. This type of approach is fundamental in allowing organisations to stabilise and also to test new solutions. Our accompaniment, aimed also at empowerment and the development of international relationships, has enabled the method to gain recognition at the United Nations and in EU project design.
Our involvement also made possible the development of the Painteraction software through a significant grant, which is a source of great pride for us.
The effectiveness of the interventions and the reliability of the organisations have enabled them to secure funding from other institutions.
The collaboration and exchange between the Foundation, Sementera and Atlas have never ceased.
Project figures
+
years of collaboration
€
granted in support of Sementera and Atlas by the Foundation and its partners
Rebirth
GOEL
Locride is a land of philosophy, epic poetry, religion and art.
Locride is also a land of the mafia — or rather, of the 'Ndrangheta.
Locride is a land that needs ethical alternatives in order to be reborn.
In 2003, the GOEL Cooperative Group was founded in Locride: a community of people, businesses and social cooperatives working for the redemption of Calabria through a strategy aimed at real change, recognising social enterprise as the primary instrument for producing that change.
Confronting the 'Ndrangheta is difficult.
The 'Ndrangheta controls the territory not only through fear and violence, but by responding to the concrete needs of citizens, families and businesses.
GOEL's challenge is to make the "ethical" alternative strong and authoritative, demonstrating that ethics is not only "right" but above all "effective" and "winning".
To delegitimise the 'Ndrangheta, GOEL positions itself not merely as a body engaged in social assistance, but also as an active entrepreneur capable of driving economic activity and offering new jobs to the local area.
Among the most significant examples of entrepreneurial activities launched in the territory:
CANGIARI: the first ethical brand in high fashion, using the precious organic fabrics of traditional Calabrian hand-weaving.
GOEL BIO: the first social cooperative made up of organic farms that stand in opposition to the 'Ndrangheta.
I VIAGGI DEL GOEL: a tour operator specialising in responsible tourism that fosters connection and involvement between tourists and local Calabrian communities.
GOEL ETHICAL CONSULTING & COMMUNICATION: offers consultancy services to businesses for the development of ethical products, through a product-oriented CSR approach aimed at developing competitive market strategies.
CAMPUS GOEL: an incubator of ethical and innovative ideas in Calabria. It supports ideas that — at its sole discretion — are considered strongly ethical, decidedly innovative, and put forward by determined individuals or groups willing to see them through.
The GOEL Consortium has grown and become increasingly structured over the years. Today it brings together organisations spanning the healthcare and social sector, social development, and various ethical entrepreneurial initiatives across the territory.
Today the community of the GOEL Cooperative Group is made up of:
- 10 social enterprises;
- 2 (non-social) cooperatives;
- 2 voluntary associations;
- 1 local Foundation;
- 28 profit-making and agricultural businesses;
- many individually involved professionals and volunteers.
GOEL is a stronghold of legality and hope in the Calabrian territory and beyond.
The growing trust surrounding GOEL's activities continues to attract new people and businesses seeking concrete alternatives to mafia-run systems, generating a long-term social impact multiplier.
The Charlemagne Foundation's involvement
The Charlemagne Foundation's journey with GOEL began in 2014 and continues to this day. The first project we supported was GOEL BIO — in particular, activities aimed at recruiting new members and providing them with administrative and commercial support.
In 2016 we took on a new challenge, actively supporting another cooperative within the Group, Made in Goel, established in 2009, which manages the Cangiari brand — Italy's first high-end eco-ethical fashion label — and the social cooperatives involved in the production and marketing of Cangiari-branded products. The project brought back unemployed workers in the clothing supply chain and revitalised businesses in the sector that were in serious difficulty. Through this objective, the project created a production system for third-party orders paid at fair rates, capable of offering sound employment prospects for women — in particular by upskilling the competencies and productive capacities of 10 identified workshops.
Subsequently, the Group's needs evolved in some ways. Efforts that were initially directed towards the development of individual projects shifted towards further goals, namely the introduction of new managerial figures. This is a very significant step that, once again, we chose to take together, in order to ensure increasingly high-quality entrepreneurial developments in the territory.
We believe in this community of people and organisations — the driving force and engine of change for an entire region.
If someone asked us "what led you to support the GOEL project?", we would be certain of our answer: the strength and courage to change that we saw in the eyes of the people of Locride was undoubtedly an essential factor for us. We believe first and foremost in people, and then in projects.
Concetta Campi (Fondazione Charlemagne)Project figures
+
years of collaboration
€
granted in total by the Foundation and its partners
Protection
ASGI
Association for Legal Studies on Immigration
Being a foreigner in a vulnerable situation in Italy almost always means living on the margins of our society, even when the desire is to integrate. Episodes of racism are an everyday occurrence; discrimination undermines full human dignity and obstructs the individual's path forward.
For us, every person has the right to choose their own community of belonging — one of rights and responsibilities — whether in Italy or abroad.
We were looking for the right partner… and we found ASGI.
Made up of lawyers, jurists and scholars specialising in immigration, asylum and citizenship law, ASGI has become a point of reference for associations, public and private bodies, students, trainee lawyers, social workers and all those wishing to deepen their awareness and expertise, spreading a culture of integration across the territory through the protection of rights.
ASGI develops advocacy actions to change laws that discriminate and conflict with our Constitution and the international Conventions that Italy has signed. It exposes and challenges rights violations through strategic litigation.
A network of expert individuals, therefore, that delivers high-impact projects across the territory and contributes to the reform of discriminatory rules and laws.
This is why we stand alongside ASGI — to raise awareness of and strengthen the protection offered by European and Italian anti-discrimination law, through the promotion of strategic legal cases and the spreading of a culture of integration through the defence of rights.
The Charlemagne Foundation's involvement
Thanks to the collaboration with the Charlemagne Foundation, ASGI has been able to receive ongoing support to launch — for the first time in Italy — and subsequently consolidate in a structured and continuous manner, activities in the areas of awareness-raising, training and strategic litigation concerning ethnic and racial discrimination, religious discrimination, and the fight against the externalisation of borders.
Project figures
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cases brought
€
granted in support of ASGI and its initiatives by the Foundation and its partners
