The Centre for Creative Development Danilo Dolci ETS has worked on education, social inclusion and international cooperation in Sicily and across the Mediterranean for over twenty years. As coordinator and dissemination leader of CLOSER, it brings to the project a long experience in participatory methods and community-based work.
Based in Palermo, the Centre for Creative Development Danilo Dolci ETS is a non-profit association rooted in the legacy of Danilo Dolci — activist, educator and poet, known for his nonviolent actions and pioneering work on participatory democracy in post-war Sicily. The team designs and runs educational programmes with children, young people, teachers, migrants, women and local communities, both in Sicily and through partnerships across Europe, the Mediterranean and beyond.
The Centre’s work draws on the Reciprocal Maieutic Approach — a participatory method based on structured dialogue that helps groups bring out their own knowledge, identify needs, express desires and reach shared decisions for social change. Over the years, the Centre has coordinated and partnered in dozens of European and international projects on themes ranging from early school leaving and adult learning to migration, gender equality, civic participation and cultural heritage.
CLOSER builds on this experience and applies it to one of the Mediterranean’s most overlooked challenges: the gap between social services and the people living in peripheral, rural and remote areas. As lead partner, the Centre coordinates the consortium and steers the project’s overall direction. It also leads dissemination, making sure the work, the lessons learnt and the tools produced reach policymakers, practitioners and communities across the partner countries. Through CLOSER, the Centre will support the mapping of service gaps in six Mediterranean countries — Italy, Greece, Spain, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine — help train facilitators able to bridge institutions and inhabitants creating local proximity networks that contribute to the co-design of new social services. It will also strengthen its own work in inland Sicily, where many of the issues CLOSER addresses are part of daily life.
CLOSER works to bring quality social services more respondent to the needs of the Mediterranean population, building proximity networks that involve communities, civil society and institutions in the co-design of services. The project brings together partners from six countries — Italy, Greece, Spain, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine — over two and a half years, thanks to the Interreg NEXT MED Programme.
Follow CLOSER on Instagram and stay in touch with the Centre for Creative Development Danilo Dolci ETS at danilodolci.org. For project-related enquiries, write to Antonella Alessi at antonella.alessi@danilodolci.org.
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