ESC: ESC Volunteering Team in Cascina EUtopia

P.E.CO. is an Association founded in June 2013 to promote opportunities of mobility and inter-cultural learning for youngsters from Genoa and its region. P.E.C.O is the point of reference in Genoa and Liguria Region for European projects with youth, cooperating with several NGOs and coordinating ESC volunteering projects within 6 host organisations across the region. These regional partners deal with many different profiles of beneficiaries, from migrants and asylum seekers to youth and children with fewer opportunities; topics vary too, from unemployment projects and organisations working on environmental education. This gives P.E.C.O the capacity to involve many different expertises and to disseminate the impact of projects to relevant stakeholders at regional level. Moreover, P.E.C.O is the partner in our region of RIVE, the biggest national network on ESC in Italy (and in Europe) and has been one of the 2 Italian organisations selected by Italian NA to be member of the European Network on NEET, supported by SALTO. We also have a partnership with the Youth Information Desk of Genoa Municipality, to support youngsters that want to go abroad, giving them information and orienteering. Our network helps us also to include local participants in international projects, especially youngsters with fewer opportunities. Our association organises also Youth Exchanges, Training courses, and Capacity Buildings within the Erasmus+ programme. Our mission is to educate youngsters to a peaceful cohabitation with people coming from different cultures, countries and social conditions, by giving them the opportunity to confront themselves within an inter-cultural environment which stimulates the development of a conscience about the complexity of our society. We want to stimulate the personal growth of youngsters, by raising their sense of citizenship, an active participation inside society and a real awareness about their role as European citizens.