ESC: Stay Active Volunteer vol. 4

nCo - Molfetta is a non-profit association, born at unformal level in 2013, thanks to a group of members moving to Apulia region after several years of mobility experience abroad. The members decided to settle down a new local organization in Apulia in order to provide local youngsters the same opportunities as they had benefitted. The aim of the association is to promote and support mobility abroad, contacts, exchanges and meetings at international level; to promote mutual tolerance and intercultural sensitivity among young people and adults; to support the unformal process of European integration in the community. In addition, InCo-Molfetta activities are addressed to create intercultural abilities and non-formal competences for all the participants. InCo-Molfetta believes in a world without prejudices, where every culture gets valued, recognizing weakness and strength points, without any discrimination. The association supports non-formal education in general such as: theatre, mobility abroad, courses of writing cv and motivation letter, entrepreneurship, group work on certain topics, seminars in public schools regarding the European mobility, the dual system of study/work at school, etc... In order to reach its objectives InCo-Molfetta creates
opportunities of volunteering abroad, international exchanges, training courses in Italy and abroad, promotion and organization of mobility projects, study visits, international evenings, etc. The organization operates thanks to several programs, such as: Mid-Term Volunteering (an independent voluntary program allowing youngsters to move abroad, partially funded from 1 to 12 months), the Erasmus+, the dual program study/work, the Info-desk. InCo-Molfetta is made by staff of 5 people, including an external member expert in European project and two youth workers. Last but not least we are proud to often cooperate with many former participants and volunteers, who support constantly the activities of the association. At local level InCo organizes several events and happenings: "Europe Day", "The Volunteering Day", "The Mobility Fair", "Erasmus Chorus", readings and cineforum in different languages, the mobility desk in order to inform local youngsters about mobility abroad, "The Refugee Day" etc... Almost all the staff members have international and voluntary experiences (some of them were former EVS, Future Capital, Socrates/Erasmus, Grundtvig, Leonardo da Vinci participants). The organization is located in the city of Molfetta, Southern Italy, with around 60.000 inhabitants, but quite far from the so-called heart of Europe. The city is well connected to the capital of the region and it is possible to find many attractions regarding sports, events, museum, heritage, etc... The people turning to the organization are usually youngsters or adults in need, who are looking for new challenges in their life, such as: experience abroad, a new job, new opportunities, new skills. We provide them informal courses and career guidance according to their attitude and motivation. Finally, a number of people from the other cities in Italy often contact our association since there are no other possibilities to get international contacts in the area. Associazione InCo-Molfetta is member of the local youth lab "Cittadella degli Artisti", the "Forum for the culture", the "Agenda XXI" forum, and committee "Molfetta Accogliente", that takes care of the needs of immigrants. Important national partnerships are established with: Associazione InCo (Trento), "Associazione Molfettesi nel Mondo", the public youth centers coordinated by "INFORMA", the most important high schools from the city and the municipality of Molfetta, Tecnopolis Bari...