ENERGY+ is a EVS project that took place in the city centre of Palermo, one of the most important cities of South Italy. The context is characterized by a high number of migrants who face several difficulties in their daily life. The project focused on social inclusion, targeting the involvement of migrant groups (new arrivals, children and migrant families) into the city’s civic activities for stimulating their sense of participation and self-empowerment.
Focusing on the importance of balancing personal and professional life, ENERGY+ volunteers, coming from Serbia, France, Spain, Greece, Latvia dealt mainly with the organization of creative activities and workshops for increasing migrants’ social and labour inclusion. Given the high numbers of migrants arriving at the SPRAR Bureaus, who are mostly minors and young men, and their relative physical inactivity, the project sought to alter this through support to CESIE’s current actions with the target groups but also encouraging volunteers to take initiative, and implement their own ideas. This created an interaction between the locals, the internationals and the new arrivals and young migrants, offering the means to the target groups to feel involved, stimulated and eventually empowered for a healthy social and labour life.
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