Associazione Giosef Unito

Asssociazione Giosef Unito is a youth organisation. Giosef is the acronym derived from “GIOvani SEnza Frontiere”, “Youth Without Frontiers”. Being without frontiers is the strength that help us reaching a better world, breaking the frame with no fear, looking beyond the appearances, stating our believes.
We see in our work the opportunity to affirm Human Rights in all their aspects and contradictions, in order to promote a culture of anti-sexism and anti-racism, to fight against homophobia, transphobia, lesbophobia and all forms of discrimination and prejudice.
The core objectives pursued by our association are:
1) INCLUSIVE CULTURE: to promote a culture of anti-sexism, anti-racism, against homo-lesbo-transphobia, xenophobia, islamophobia and all forms of discrimination;
2) EDUCATION AND CHANGE: to produce social change through Non-Formal Education on Human Rights;
3) INTERNATIONAL MOBILITY: to promote international mobility and intercultural learning among young people;
4) INCLUSION AND PARTICIPATION: to promote and active youth participation and citizenship, combating social exclusion;
5) PROJECTS MANAGEMENT AND FUNDING (across the board) seeking funding opportunities on the local, state and international level applying for call for proposals and grants on the local, state and international level.
Founded in 2004, Giosef Unito is actively working with Non Formal Education methodologies for young learners and since 2013 we have started to implement techniques coming from theatrical methodology in the frame of NFE. Our work is based in our conviction that new educational paradigms are needed in a fast changing society where Formal Education strategies cannot respond with the same pace to the recent challenges and developments, like the current migrants and refugees crisis in Europe.
Giosef Unito continued to cooperate with a large range of partners and interlocutors: we believe it is essential to create synergies between Formal and Non Formal Education organizations, third sector, mass media and public administrations in order to maximize the impact of our activities in line with the Agenda 2020 of the European Union.
Giosef Unito is striving for such joint effort among all the above mentioned stakeholders, keeping a permanent flow of communication, cooperation and debate around the main challenges related to the promotion of Human Rights. In order to mantain the widest perspective possible, we have developed a strong focus on intersectionality: we are fully convinced that we need to keep in mind all the identity components that contribute to each one’s self perception if we want to dismantle all the forms of discrimination. We are aware, for example, that it’s impossible to tackle islamophobia without considering the racist dynamics that lay under this specific discriminatory expression, as well as we cannot fight homophobia without analysing the traditionally constructed forms of sexism.
We completely agree with the key concept in Audre Lorde’s work: “there is no such thing as single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives”.

Networks
Since we fully believe in the core values of cooperation and networking, Giosef Unito is part of different networks at local, national and international level, each of them considered essential to guarantee a better quality work:
CasaArcobaleno: born in 2012 and officially started in 2014, CasaArcobaleno is a co-working space aiming to share ideas and resources among 15 locally active associations, each of them with a specific target, although the majority is dealing with gender issues and LGBT+ rights. The structure is placed in one of the most intercultural neighbourhoods of Torino, Porta Palazzo, thus allowing all of the associations to be contaminated by many different multi-cultural influences.
Giosef Italy: this is a network of youth associations spread all over Italy. The local committees act in a very independent and diversified manner, using the tools and methods most adapt to each one’s local dimension in order to reach each organization’s objectives, but they are all connected by the use of innovative Non Formal Education techniques.
Human Rights European Youth Network - HREYN: HREYN main aim is to contribute to Human Rights Education implementation in youth work at a European level. Its objectives are to promote approaches of mutual understanding, peace, solidarity, respect for human dignity and Human Rights, non violent actions and contrast to discrimination, and to take actions in order to contrast Human Rights violations through campaigns, prevention, raising awareness and most of all Informal and Non Formal Education.