The crowdfunding platform that is integrated into Phyrtual now hosts a new project entitled Il nostro passato, il vostro futuro (Our Past, Your Future). The project is promoted by an intergenerational staff including teachers, students from year four at IIS Don Milani in Gragnano (Naples) and local over-sixties.
The unusual work group was formed thanks to Project Active Ageing and Solidarity Amongst Generations via Learning and Social Innovation. Now, the objective is to keep working together to develop an e-book.
“Promoting social innovation means listening to community stimuli. It’s a sort of social problem solving. Communication with local communities is fundamental: if one does not learn more about the local environment, it’s impossible to provide answers,” explains Tonia Calò, a professor at IIS Don Milani in Gragnano, who explains the idea at the basis of the Active Ageing and Intergenerational Solidarity initiative.
Together with her colleagues, students in year four and the elder computer students, Tonia Calò has developed Project “Our Past, Your Future” to develop and e-book reviewing local excellence and tradition. “We were meant to begin this project with just one class, but then our Headmaster liked the idea and decided to involve more classes.”
Ideas are clear at IIS Don Milani on how to run a group programme. “I trained my colleagues on the key concepts of social innovation, but all our work was based on sharing on the basis of everyone’s skills. We worked independently in each classroom and then shared the results. For example, the scientific programme students followed the crowdfunding part. We provided our students with an initial idea of innovation and how to create a start-up with a creative and personal approach.”
Even the logo is the result of this work division. “Each class prepared a proposal and then the over-sixties were put in charge of selecting the best. In the end, they decided to employ the best elements of each logo to create a new one.”
These work methods have allowed us to reach an initial, but important objective. “The project has also been enthusiastically approved by the local administration that intends to make it available locally to promote the City of Gragnano and its excellence. We can definitely say that the project has stepped beyond the borders of our school.”
This is an important experience for our young men and women. “In Gragnano, we need this type of initiatives. There is lots to do and there are not meeting areas. Tomorrow, it may be the very students we are educating today who will create something of interesting with their start-ups. They are very eager to do something and only need better encouragement, reference points and trust.”
