Costruiamo Saperi

Learning by renovating a farmhouse in Sicily

Ragusa, Italy
2015—2017
Beneficiaries unemployed foreign workers living in Ragusa  
Partners Diocesi di Ragusa, Caritas Ragusa, Confcoperative Ragusa, Uniti Senza Frontiere
Funds Fondazione Con il Sud 

Together with Caritas Ragusa, Confcoperative Ragusa and Uniti Senza Frontiere we started a project which combined the renovation of historical buildings to the definition of equitable working conditions and professional training.

The project was called Costruiamo Saperi, “let’s build knowledge”, and aimed at engaging 50 disadvantaged and marginalized migrants (both women and men)in the renovation of an ancient abandoned farmhouse called Contrada Magnì, owned by the Diocese of Ragusa.

After three years of learning by doing training and work, at the end of the project, many migrants have started working in regular professional contexts linked to what they learned. Some others have turned into entepreneurs, as they co-funded two working specialized cooperatives in Contrada Magnì. One cooperative is devoted to agriculture, cultivating approx. 10ha of Contrada Magnì fields. The other is a carpentry workshop and it is now an active professional subject in the territory of Ragusa.

ASF Italia team Silvia Nessi, Mariella Eleonora Bianchin, Francesca Albertoni, Marco Tommaseo