A Nest for each Child

Project location: Italy
Project start date: November 2007 - Project end date: September 2008
Project number: 2006-41
Beneficiary: AIUTARE I BAMBINI

Please click on this link to open the December2007 Project Report (Italian, pdf 1MB)

"Aiutare i bambini" is a lay and independent non profit founded in 2000 by the Italian businessman: Goffredo Modena.
Its mission is to "aid and support children suffering from poverty, sickness, lack of education or who have experienced physical or moral violence, by offering them the opportunity and the hope for a life that is worth living".
In Italy only one child out of ten attends a family nursery due to a lack of structures.
The minimum standard set by European Institutions to be reached by 2010 is 33% of receptiveness for children from 0 to 3 years old. Among a large variety of other projects, within Italy and abroad, "Aiutare i bambini" aims to increase on its national territory the number of nurseries for children aged 0 to 3 by rehabilitating locations or starting up new structures.
The beneficiaries of this project are those children whose families are poor, immigrant or single mothers based.

Aiutare i bambini Foundation's aim is to start up 20 new nurseries and 10 playground.
In some cases public institutions such as Municipalities are involved by giving for free the locations for the implementation of the activities.
Social Co-operatives will largely contribute to the project start up through the training and management of the teachers thanks to their know-how.
One of the main innovations of this project is the economic sustainability.
As a matter of fact, "Aiutare i bambini", will support those structures during their start up and for the first three years. Little by little those structures will become independent thanks to Municipalities, public contributions and fees paid by the families, according to their own incomes.
The deep socio-economic changes, the constant raising in the number of working women and the historical evolution of family have been affecting children from 0 to 3 years old, leading to a growing demand for care services for the first childhood.
A recent national Research on family nurseries, published by ‘National Centre of Documentation and Analysis on Childhood and Adolescence in Italy' reveals problematical national data: in Italy only a child out of ten attends a family nursery.
The number of nurseries (public and private) in Italy is 4.855. The total number of children from 0 to 3 years old is 1.645.000, and the number of children who attend the nursery is 163.000 that is the 10%.
The minimum aim set by European Institutions is 33% of receptiveness.
"Aiutare i bambini" Foundation aims to contribute to the resolution of this problem co-financing flexible structures like family nursery and playground.
The general aim of this project is the opening of 20 family nurseries, and 10 playgrounds allocated on the national territory.
The innovative aspect of the initiative is based on the creation of a partnership among different stakeholders: municipalities, social cooperatives, families and different corporates or Foundations that will give a contribution to this project.
The beneficiaries of these nurseries and playgrounds will be very poor families with a very low income level and single-parent families (like single mothers), as they don't have the possibility to enter private nurseries because they are too much expansive.
These families will have the opportunity to leave their children in a safe and nice place while they go to work to get better their economical condition. They will have to pay a very little fee to enter, according to their economical condition.