The Italian Diaspora Coordination for internazional cooperation is born
On 6 December 2023, the Italian Coordination of Diasporas for International Cooperation was officially born, a network made up of over 100 associations present in nine regional networks (Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Piedmont, Apulia, Sardinia, Sicily and Trentino Alto-Adige) engaged in Development Cooperation and Global Citizenship Education activities.
The Coordination was presented, in a packed hall, at the DIRE Press Agency – media partner of the initiative.
The Coordination was created in the framework of the project “DRAFT the Future! Towards a Diaspora Forum in Italy’, funded by the Italian Development Cooperation and implemented by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and Le Réseau Association. This project is the third phase of a path started in 2017 with the “National Summit of Diasporas” initiative – funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) – which highlighted the protagonism of Diasporas in Italian Cooperation.
The birth of the Coordination was also possible thanks to the technical assistance of NexumStp s.p.a.
The Coordination was born thanks to the commitment and determination of the members of the Founding Members’ Assembly, who from 2017 until today, together with all the realities that have supported the path during these years, have believed in the idea and worked so that this historic result could be reached today
During the press conference, precious interventions were made by the new president and vice-president of the Coordination, Bertrand Mani Ndongbou and Ana Auxiliadora Estrela, who reaffirmed the importance of having built a representative and concrete body that recognises the Diasporas as agents of International Cooperation, as provided for by Law 125 of 2014. Also present were Laurence Hart, Director of the IOM Coordination Office for the Mediterranean, and Cleophas Adrien Dioma, President of Le Réseau Association.
The meeting concluded with the announcement of the date of the 5th National Summit of Diasporas, to be held in Rome on 10 February 2024 at the Auditorium Antonianum.