Background and experience
CEIPES – International Centre for the Promotion of Education and Development is an International non-profit association founded in Palermo in 2007 and with antennas in other 8 European countries.
Vision and Mission:
We believe that education and development are fundamental values to achieve peace and dignity for all human beings. Each individual and community has the potential to fulfill its rights. CEIPES acts as a facilitator for activating the community, through an educational approach in order to create and transform energy and resources. This process is necessary for both individual and social development.
The mission of CEIPES is to foster and support the sustainable development of local communities and individuals’ empowerment through education and training, human rights and international cooperation.
Objectives:
- To promote non formal education as a fundamental tool in the education of youth and adults and as complementary to formal education.
- To promote personal and community development through learning mobilities
- To create new innovative tools and methodologies to develop useful strategies in the field of education through the cooperation with public and private entities at local and international level.
- To promote study, research and innovation, both methodological and technological, with the aim of giving scientific support to the specific activities carried on by our association
- To encourage intercultural dialogue with the objective of fostering mutual understanding and respect between individuals from different cultures
- To promote peace, nonviolence and human rights as a fundamental tool reach a world of equality and solidarity in which all human beings can access to their fundamental rights.
Local and international networks
CEIPES works at local, European and international level in synergy with more than 100 organisations, bodies and institutions with the objective of improving methodologies and technologies in the field of education, developing innovative strategies and participatory
tools in the work with youth and adults, in the field of education and research through local and international cooperation.
At local level CEIPES coordinates the CEIPES Network, which is based in Sicily and counts more than 40 members among organisations, public and private bodies. The aim of the network is to promote the cooperation among different stakeholder at local level and to facilitate the access to European opportunities, such as learning mobilities and European cooperation.
At European and international level CEIPES works has a strong cooperation with more than 50 NGOs, universities, research centers and public bodies. The common pursued by all the partners is to realize a positive change, to facilitate the social cohesion in the respect of human rights and the active participation of all individuals for their full personal and collective fulfillment.
Area of intervention and target groups
CEIPES is working in different areas of intervention and with different target groups. Each sector is developing specific projects with the support of professional teams that pay detailed attention to the quality of the service and activities carried out.
The main topics we are addressing at the moment are:
- ICT innovation and STEAM
- Health, Food, Sport and Outdoor Education
- Special Educational Needs (SEN)
- Local development and social inclusion
- Human rights Education and raising awareness, advocacy and anti – discrimination
- Art, Culture and Creativity
- Sustainability, Environment and Climate Change
- Capacity building of third sector organizations, educational institutes and public sector
Our activities, depending on the area of intervention, are addressed to: young people, adults, migrants, disadvantaged youth and NEET, women, educators, teachers and students, members of public institutions, unemployees.
Staff
The staff of CEIPES is composed of many professional experts with different competences in several sectors such as psychology, communication, education, international cooperation, social and cultural mediation, social assistance, sport manager, informatics and law.
Besides the permanent staff, the association also relies on the voluntary work and collaboration of more than 25, mostly young, people who are also working in the above sectors, and who work in CEIPES’s activities as volunteers and interns, coming from the local and international contexts.
CEIPES has the operational capacity to implement the project activities and the necessary expertise in the fields of the project, the local partners necessary for implementation and sustainability as well as the necessary motivation.
Concerning the financial management CEIPES has internal and external accountants that manages the finances of all projects and activities of CEIPES.
CEIPES main activities in the below areas of intervention and with specific target groups are:
- Educational activities at local, European and international level;
- Technological innovation and research in the educational field;
- Raising awareness and advocacy activities;
- Organization of seminars, conferences, training courses and workshops oriented to capacity building of young people, youth workers, educators and adults;
- Learning mobilities (ESC, VET, internships, job shadowing, Erasmus+ placement);
- Exchange of good practices among professionals in different areas.
We annually involve more than 150 youngsters and youth workers in learning mobilities, with sending and hosting capacity, through international volunteering, youth exchanges, internships and training courses, more than 100 youngsters in local educational paths and more then 100 adult learners among teachers and staff of no profit organizations and public institutions.
Along with all the activities realized through European partnerships, CEIPES is managing the Rise – Lab, Center for Innovation, Empowerment and Networking, created in a property confiscated to mafia entrusted by the Municipality of Palermo. The center is a social incubator generating interventions aimed at promoting inclusion and social cohesion, innovation and participation of individuals and the entire community. Placed in one of the most disadvantaged neighborhood of the city of Palermo, it is 600mt large and contains an Innovative with STEM Lab, ILAB (Innovation Laboratories In The Development of Competences), Training and workshop rooms, a European Infodesk, a social pocket Cinema – Theatre, a future experiential Museum of migration, human rights and legality.
CEIPES works closely with the Directorate of Education and the Municipality of Palermo, the Observatory for dropouts and with a network of NGOs, University of Palermo and other entities in the specific neighborhood and in the whole Sicily.