You the Future with Save the Children

The partnership with Save the Children was launched to develop concrete responses to the Instruction Sector’s objectives and in particular to fight against educational poverty and school drop-out.

Context and partnership

The national health emergency has exacerbated inequalities in material and educational poverty.

More than 1 million children live in absolute poverty and 1 million in relative poverty
In 2018, Italy already had a national school drop-out rate of more than 13%. Due to students’ lack of or limited access to digital tools for education (12% nationally and 19% in the South), this is expected to rise to 20%. This trend has been confirmed with 28% of students, reporting that at least 1 classmate has stopped attending classes since spring and that more than 3 no longer attend.
Today one in eight children aged between 6 to 17 (around 850,000 young people) does not have a PC or a tablet at home, around one in five are in the southern regions (See ISTAT, "Rapporto annuale - La situazione del paese 2020", July 2020, p. 158 ff,). In recent months, the situation has had a serious impact on the ability of these children to attend classes from home. During lockdown, more than one in ten children was unable to study remotely, with one in five only able to do so occasionally. More than one in three 14-17 year olds has no digital ability in the use of the internet and new technologies. In particular, 23.9% do not know how to search for information on the internet, 24% are not able to use computer software.

Without targeted and immediate action, there is a real risk that up to 34,000 young people will drop out of school over the next few years.
Fondazione CDP is working with Save the Children, one of the most active and recognised organisations at national and international level for its activities to combat educational poverty and early school leaving, to reverse this trend and invest in our human capital, which is a strategic asset for the development and growth of our country.

The project

The project with Save the Children is based on 3 key concepts:

Education because we believe school is where every child develops and consolidates their knowledge and skills, and for this reason we support teachers, managers and families by facilitating and promoting the joint work of all stakeholders.
Innovation because we aim to open an ongoing and fruitful dialogue with schools, implementing innovative teaching methods, which are more fundamental than ever in facing this period of emergency and uncertainty.
Networking because we support the creation of a solid and widespread presence in the area, promoting networking among all educational actors, to maximise community impact.

We have therefore refined and customised our activities to best meet these needs, dividing them into:

Training and empowerment activities: more than 90 pathways have been organised to (i) increase student participation and recognition of their voices in decision-making processes related to school spaces, teaching, relationships and partnerships with the region and the resumption of school activity; (ii) improve the skills and motivation of teachers and school leaders for blended (distance and face-to-face) educational approaches; (iii) strengthen parenting skills and support the school-family partnership.
Activities to strengthen digital education: the organisation of (i) more than 70 "UndeRadio onlife" workshops on rights, digital civic participation and media education; 2 virtual editorial offices to produce live radio broadcasts and podcasts for 6 months; 2 "My school is my world" schemes to collect children’s opinion through radio surveys to build Regional Educational Pacts for the future of school.
Corporate Volunteering Activities: which will see CDP employees directly involved in activities to support the young people in the project on topics such as innovation, digital and sustainability.

In 11 months (from 1/9/2020 to 30/7/2021) the project will have an impact on 3240 students, 580 teachers and 360 families from 83 schools in 12 cities (Naples, Avellino, Praia a Mare/Scalea, Crotone, Palermo, Ancona, Potenza, Perugia, Rome, Velletri (RM) and Chieti) in Central-Southern Italy.