A Christmas ball for development cooperation

Buy a Unibo Christmas ball and support a new activity of development cooperation

Among the strategic objectives of 2016-2018, the enhancement of our University development cooperation activities plays an important role. AlmaEngage was born exactely with this purpose in mind. AlmaEngage is a virtual structure for coordinating development cooperation activities within the University of Bologna at a local and an international level. AlmaEngage is part of a broader process in which universities are opening up to the outside world, are actively engaging in social and public issues and are sharing as well as transferring knowledge to the benefit of society. This project serves as a way to promote and put in place any planned initiatives, as well as to create and implement new ones aimed at sensitizing and stimulating academic and non-academic stakeholders on the themes of development cooperation.

This is our first fund-raising activity linked to the international cooperation projects of the University of Bologna.

On this theme, our University is characterised by an ever wider involvement and that is why it is committed to organising initiatives that engage first hand with the entire academic community. After the photography show "AlmaEngage: from the world to the world", the University of Bologna wishes to move into this same direction, and offer a small contribution to the activities carried out within the projects showed.

Fundraising will take place through the purchase of a Christmas ball with the UNIBO and AlmaEngage logo. All those who decide to buy a ball will be asked to express a vote for thier preferred project and the specific activity to which they would like to allocate a donation. The project that will get more preferences will receive the full amount collected.

WHERE YOU CAN BUY UNIBO CHRISTMAS BALLS

Christmas balls can be purchased on December 14th and December 21st 2017 at the Rectorate (ground floor) and in the UniboStore shop (Via Zamboni 25) starting from December 14th.
UniboStore Opening Hours in December: Monday to Friday 9.30am - 4.30pm, special openings on Saturday 9th, 16th and 23rd December from 9.30am to 3.30pm. Closing on 8 and from 27 to 29 December.
Cost of the ball: contribution starting from 10 Euros.

COMPETING PROJECTS

Measures for improvement of the Shufat refugee camp (East Jerusalem)

The Shufat camp is one of the 19 refugee camps in the West Bank and is located in East Jerusalem. It covers an area of 20.3 hectares and the population is about 25,000 people. The overcrowding of the Shufat refugee camp led to the impossibility of organizing an effective waste management system, worsening the poor health of its residents, increasing environmental degradation and the lack of basic services for the rapidly growing population.

The contribution could fund a series of interventions in the refugee camp of Shufat including the purchase of bins for waste collection, construction of a green roof in the Women Centre, the purchase of small equipment to organize the next cleaning campaign for the Shufat camp in collaboration with schools and the purchase of sewing machines for the women's cooperative.

Creation of a training course for cheesemakers for two trainees of the "Vet for Africa" programme

Kwabena and Ebrima arrived in Bologna two years ago from Ghana and Gambia in their early twenties. The two asylum seekers have attended an extracurricular training internship and since June 2016 they have managed a flock of goats at the Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, working with great dedication, punctuality and enthusiasm, at the point that their activity is gradually becoming incresingly autonomous and fruitful.

The donation will contribute to creating a training course for Kwabena and Ebrima to learn how to breed and manage small ruminants. Specifically, it is a cheesemaker course (in Italian casaro), focused on processing milk into cheese and other dairy products.

Training course for teachers of secondary schools and high schools aimed at transmitting skills on topics such as migration, interculture and integration

The AMITIE CODE project (Capitalizing On Development) aims to propose policies for the integration of migrants in local bodies, universities and associations, raising awareness among the general population (young people, teachers, officials) through local activities.
The project includes among its action plans the funding of a training course for lower and upper secondary school teachers. The course aims to develop specific skills on migration, inter-culture and integration, and to facilitate the integration of boys and girls of lower and upper secondary schools. The course includes seminars, workshops on the transcultural relationship, discussion and debate activities, moments of reflection and didactic planning.

Development of a "dynamic museum" (stilt houses, canoes, information panels) to promote tourist activities in Inle Lake, Myanmar

The donation will be used to develop a tourist service designed by the local community and which actively engages it in a sustainable and responsible way, enabling them to integrate their economic budget. This service is a sort of guided tour of "life" in the Lake region. Through a sort of dynamic open-air museum,it will be possible to visit local populations, their activities, their traditions and the less touristic but more fascinating areas of the lake. Canoes are led by women from a small fishing village, Pauk Par Village, with 192 stilt houses on the Lake.

Activation of a course for humanitarian interpreters aimed at facilitating the communication of asylum seekers in their mother tongue

The funded activity will be an entry-level course for humanitarian interpreters so that stories like that of Franck should not be repeated. Franck Eitel is 28 years old. Born and raised in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, he fled on a boat in 2014, reaching the Sicilian coast. He was then interviewed to get a refugee status, but his request was denied and among the reasons of this denial there might be a lingusitic issue, too: during the interview, Franck and other young people asked to be listened in their mother tongue (eg Cameroonian dialects), but it is not always possible and interviews usually take place in English. According to the facility manager for asylum seekers, some important nuances of Franck's speech have been lost in translation. After appealing, Franck is now awaiting a new hearing.

Purchase of pedal pumps for the irrigation of off-the-ground gardens managed by women heads of the family (Central Myanmar)

The activity is part of the GREAT project which involves the construction of family gardens in rural villages located in the Magway and Mandalay regions (central Myanmar). The donation will be addressed to large families managed by women who, due to the absence of their husbands, have to take care of domestic activities, educate children and provide for their whole family. The donation will help to buy twenty foot pumps that can greatly facilitate the management of irrigation of family gardens, making the activities less tiring and faster. With this help, women can devote themselves to the family by continuing to manage the activity of the garden, which guarantees to all members of the family a balanced diet and regular growth.

Combining education and leisure: creation of a comic book to tell what a museum is for new generations in Iraq (10-13 years)

In the complex Iraqi context, where social and political upheavals have struck both the cultural heritage and the educational system, it is essential to receive all the possible tools to educate new generations. Museums can become didactic places taht are accessible to visitors of all ages and custodians of a common past.The donation will help to create a comic book, which is a simple tool but with the power to open new worlds through the imagination of those who read it. In this way, one can educate while having fun and tell what a museum is for the new Iraqi generations, transmitting awareness of their own history and cultural heritage. The comic book will be produced in Arabic and English and will be freely distributed in schools to children between 10 and 13 years.