CIES

Our organisation
CIES is an NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation) whose mission is to promote values of solidarity and cooperation in the context of its national as well as of its international activities. CIES cooperates with many European partners and is a member of several coordinating groups: Concord-European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development, Association of Italian NGO, COCIS-Town Committee for Decentralized Cooperation of the Municipality of Rome, Fair Trade Consortium and TransFair-Italy, “Trialog” Platform.
CIES was founded in 1983 by a group of educators and development co-operation operators.
CIES projects are partly financed by the Italian Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MAE), Internal Affairs, Labour, Education, University and Research, and by the European Union, UN Agencies, Local Authorities, ASL (Local Health Authorities), Foundations, State-owned and private Companies, partners and members, individual citizens and groups.
In Italy, our association especially promotes the values of interculture in order to foster the positive integration of migrants.
Abroad it supports Development Cooperation programmes.

CIES's history is characterised by two fundamental stages:

- In the eighties it actively participates in anti-racism movements and sets itself up as an NGO in order to carry out cooperation and development education projects;

- At the beginning of the nineties it extends its engagement and activities to the sectors of intercultural education and cultural mediation .

Our activities

Cultural Mediation, Global and Intercultural Education, Communication and Sensitization, International Cooperation. These are the working sectors of CIES.
CIES wants to disseminate knowledge on the countries of origin of immigrants and contribute to their integration into the Italian society: we work in schools and cooperate with local authorities and institutions; we organise exhibitions, meetings and debates, shows and festivals as well as training courses for migrants who live and work in Italy - a multi-faceted work aimed at sensitizing public opinion on the issue and culture of coexistence.
CIES is working on many projects and initiatives abroad, which focus on self-development of people and grass-roots realities of the countries of the South of the world, it develops actions aimed at promoting children's rights, the right to education, literacy, vocational training, micro-credit, communication and health care.

Development Education and Interculture.

CIES develops many projects and initiatives focused on intercultural education, such as workshops, seminars, training courses, intercultural activities, interactive exhibitions and multi-media productions. Such activities are intended for students especially and want to raise awareness on the problems linked to the relations between the North and the South of the world, globalisation phenomena, economic and social hardships and difficulties; they also want to foster exchanges and contact among different cultures in an increasingly multi-ethnic society. Attention to the conditions of children and protection of children's rights is the core of our development education projects.
Since 2010 has been opened Matemù, the C.I.E.S' Youth Center, a meeting-place where boys and girls from different cultures and backgrounds (Italians, migrants and second generation) can express themselves and their creativity and are given a support. At Matemù all the differences are appreciated as “new possibilities”.

Development Cooperation.

CIES's development cooperation projects aim at fostering self-development in the countries of the South of the world, privileging a non-welfare approach based on the direct participation of local partners and organisations. CIES works in particular in the following countries: Angola, Albania, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba, Mozambique, with projects in support of children at risk, micro-credit/social enterprises, environmental and social and health education, vocational training, equal opportunities, as well as fight against trafficking of human beings.

Cultural and Linguistic Mediation.

CIES works in the sector of cultural and linguistic mediation according to an intercultural-type relational model, based on mutual contact and willingness to meet new cultures and exchange experiences. Therefore, mediation becomes an important instrument to foster dialogue and contact between migrants and the host society, as well as equal opportunities for migrants to enter the labour market and enjoy public services. CIES provides the training of mediators and operators of the sector and delivers mediation services at national level, to Police Stations, Schools, Hospitals, local Health authorities, Reception centres, Public offices and private Entities. Its database now includes 600 mediators - the mediation service can be provided in more than 50 languages.