Wilma Massucco - Interviews

Wilma Massucco  as member of Eugad, together with the National television RAI TG1 Team, to the production of Documentaries in Sierra Leone (the RAI edition of the video resources created and shared by EUGAD can be seen on the web site of Speciale TG1, Nov 27th 2011 ).

  Father GIUSEPPE "BEPI" BERTON (Family Homes Movement, Sierra Leone) - "How to develop no feeling of separation between "us" and "them""
 

Father Giuseppe "Bepi" Berton, an Italian Christian priest who has been living in Sierra Leone for over 40 years, is the founder of Family Homes Movement (FHM), a social Movement aiming to take care and educate children in particular need which, during the civil war, took care of about 3000 children soldiers. In this interview he claims about the prejudices, stiffening the perception of the difference between "us" and "them", which are quite common even with NGOs and experts of Development, and gives his raccomandations in order to overcome them.
 

FRANCESCO BRANCATELLA (Italian RAI Television, TG1) - "Africa, the unsaid phobias of western people and the power of intercultural dialogue"
 

Francesco Brancatella is a national RAI television journalist (TG1) and expert of reportage in Europe, Middle East and in the so called Third World. In this interview - taken from the backstage of the activities held in Sierra Leone with the Eugad team, related to the Documentary production in support of MDGs - he talks about the responsibilities of western media operators in supporting MDGs and promoting awareness about the current issues. He observes that western media are used to highlighting in the news only the negative events of murders, violence, family destroyed by young boys and girls, instead of good news related to actions focused to build positive and interactive future, and the same happens for Africa as well, which is usually only shown in its most negative aspects. On his opinion, this is a “warped communication”, consequence of the unsaid phobias of western people and of the collective unconscious repression of their fears of living, which effectively prevents a true evolution both of individuals and of human kind itself. He talks about the way how a strong identity culture, built through a true intercultural dialogue, can help overcoming those fears. He also cites the lesson we can learn by Brazil, as vivid example of multicultural cohabitation.
 

Read more in his interview  or watch the video ⇒  italian language
 

CLOTILDE PONTECORVO, University La Sapienza, Rome - "The Chance Project and the Institutional Educational system, relationship between educators and drop outs and the priorities of Education"
 

Clotilde Pontecorvo is Professor at the University La Sapienza, Faculty of Psychology, Rome (Italy). She's also a Researcher and Observer of the Chance project, an educational project allocated in the degraded areas of Naples (Italy) and finalized to the rehabilitation and reintegration of young drop outs into civil society.

Here you can read her interview: it has been taken during the Round Table on Chance, arranged in Naples, in July 2010, where researchers and educators have been met for three days in order to analyze good and bad practices related to the Chance Project, and it's  specifically focused on the replicability of the Chance educational model in the Institutional educational system, on the relationship between educators and drop outs, and on the priorities of Education.
 

VANDANA SHIVA - Ecofeminist, winner of the Alternative Nobel Prize - "The Earth is female"
 

"Usually women are not in the main stream of society (as the men), and that's the reason why they can think differently, and  act differently. They act in defense of nature and in defense of society. Every day they have to clean the house, to care the babies, and this gives them a training in persistence" - says Vandana Shiva, physicist, philosopher, environmental activist, eco feminist, winner of the Right Livelihood Award(also known as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize') for placing women and ecology at the heart of modern development discourse.

In her opinion conceiving the Earth as a female is important, as it moves to the concept of Earth as a Mother, i.e. not just as dead and inert and only as a source of raw materials to be exploited but as generative force, to be respected and loved. The IPCC report, which is the inter-government panel on climate change, body of 2500 scientists, predicted that if the current is continuing, by hundreds of years from now human beings will not be able to live on this planet. As alternative to that perspective, she recommends - in strong opposition with the theories by Jeffrey Sachs, see The End of poverty- we should return to earth, manual labour, ecological farming and fair trade to ensure healthy, diverse and safe food.

Read more in this interview, where Vandana Shiva also describes her ideas about International Cooperation and Development. She also gives some examples, taken from her experience, about the way how common people can make a successful opposition to big economic powers, like the Multinationals Companies, when they're damaging the environment and working for exploitation of natural resources.
 

ROBERTO NATALE, President of FNSI (National Print Italian Federation) - "Crisis of independence for the mainstream communication channels"
 

Roberto Natale , the current President of the National Italian Press Federation FNSI, suggests and strongly acts, through FNSI initiatives, to promote a cultural reconversion of current journalism, so to induce journalists and Directors of Media to make a different choice of the news selected in their schedules. He also supports the role of education made in the schools, in order to teach young students the importance of reading newspapers and the way how to read news with criticism. It’s common people who can make their choices, and decide how much important is “the news about hot weather in summer and cold weather in winter, compared to the news about international crisis and the analysis of their causes”.
 

"I believe that the task of information is to make us open our eyes, to make us lift our gaze from the Italian situation on which we sometimes obsessively focus  - he says - The attention dedicated to every little rustle of opposition in Parliament, the collage of the statements of politicians from almost all parties reported in the news, are all kinds of information that take away attention from something else. They take away attention from something else. I'd like a public service that says: "In your listings, dear editors, I don't see far, I see provincial news. Let us engage in campaigns to try and bridge this gap"

MARC MAES, NGO 11.11.11, EPAs critic - "EPAs and EU policy coherence for development"
 

Marc Maes, member of a Belgian coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) known as 11.11.11, believes that the current EPAs (Economic Partnership Agreements) arranged by the EU to make ACP economy liberalization, i.e. to open a free trade market between EU and the ACP (African, Caribbean, Pacific) Countries, are not really devolved to support Development, as EU is affirming. In his opinion the ACP Countries need time to build their original integration and their infrastructures, and to strengthen their Institution capacity and Productive capacity, before opening their market especially for the European imports, but the EU pushes ACP Countries to sign the current EPAs asap. With the immediate consequences, for ACP, of an increase of internal costs, less Government income, the division of Africa. He suggests EU and the ACP Countries should find, together, ways to strengthen and support the development of Africa, instead of making an exercise in which ACP Countries have to put a cross on a paper presented by the European Union.
 

Read more in his interview what he suggests EPAs should be in order to really support Development.

STEFANO BARTOLINI, Economist, University of Siena (Italy) - "If welfare doesn't mean well-being, what's the right definition for Development?"

"There's a strong relationship between the increase of social and environmental deterioration and the increase of economy, i.e. increase of GDP" - says Stefano Bartolini, Professor of Politic Economy at University of Siena (Italy) and writer of the book recently published "Manifesto per la felicità, Come passare dalla società del ben - avere a quella del ben - essere (2010, pp. XIV-306, Ed. Saggine)" - Manifest for Happiness, How to change from a society of material-well being to a society of social -well being. "In such a case, you are daily induced to afford new expenditures, in order to fill your own hole" - he explains - " which increases the value of GDP but doesn't improve the quality of life. On the contrary, it gets worse and worse, as the so-called relational goods proportionally reduce more and more". 
 

In this interview Stefano Bartolini makes an analysis of the concept of Development as it is shaped in the advanced countries, and of the causes and solutions for the dissatisfaction of most western people. He believes the main problem is that the recent economic development has been accompanied by a proportional impoverishment of our emotive and social relationships. Which is a kind of development that doesn’t create welfare and, moreover, it is very dangerous for the economic stability, as the current global crisis clearly highlights. 
As consequence, he suggests a concrete social and economic reform, based on a radical cultural and organizational modification - i.e. a “Manifest for happiness” - to be addressed to: governments and local administrations, political movements, schools, communication system, advertising, etc. The logic based on the principle that “consuming is fine” must be stopped as soon as possible
 

MARCO ARTUSI, CEO of LEN Strategy Srl, Social Media consultant - "Social Media and politics"
 

Marco Artusi is Professor of Web marketing at University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy) and CEO of LEN Strategy srl. He's also consultant for internet marketing and social media marketing. 
 

In this interview he makes a very interesting analysis of the influence that communication made through the Web and the Social Media can have on the results of political campaigns.

On his opinion, Internet is nowadays not only a tool of communication, but also a tool to strongly activate and organize any supporters’ campaign. See for the case the result got in these last election by the so-called “Movimento a 5 stelle” [5 stars movement], an Italian political movement - lead by the comic Beppe Grillo - which used only the power of web to make political communication, i.e. no support by TV or Magazines or Newspapers. Reaching, in spite of not using the mainstream channels of communication, a significant result of votes on a national level. Which means a new way of making communication, and making political campaign in details, is growing up, built only by people for common people.
 

STEFANO DE SANTIS, scriptwriter, film/theatre director, expert of International Cooperation - "Which way to become an authentic person?"

Stefano De Santis, (consultant of Armadilla NGO ), the main author of the Eugad Manuals  and the script writer and director of the Eugad documentaries, has great experience with film/theatre direction, teaching, writing and he's also consultant for Designing and Managing International Cooperation Projects and for Programmes of Institutional Communication.

In this interview he talks about authenticity. In order to concretely act in your life, and in the world where you live, and passionately fight for what you believe in, you need to come into contact with yourself, and sincerely listen to what are your real needs and desires. Which means you need to be authentic to yourself. As a matter of fact we often follow our fears, and behave in a strict or undesired way, which is very far from what we really would like to do. What’s the path of awareness we can go along, in order to follow our courage instead of our fear, and in such a way become an authentic person? It’s a matter of choice: be a victim is not a choice; follow your courage is a choice.

MARIANELLA SCLAVI, Conflict Mediation and Participatory approach to decision making, Ascolto attivo s.a.s. - "Consensus building and decision making through Participatory approach"
 

Marianella Sclavi, expert of Conflict Mediation and Participatory approach to decision making, founder of Ascolto attivo sas (active Listening consultant firm), noticed that, in the case a Local Authority promoted a Participatory approach to face a specific issue, the result was much more successful than when the Local Authority simply tried to impose a specific solution for that issue. 
She experienced that the most successful solution to a specific complex issue was not given by a group of experts, but by a group with the maximum of diversity, made of all the possible stakeholders, as you can get using a Participatory approach. 
She realized moreover that most of the decisions taken by “experts” alone were doomed to find in their way some constituency that would have been adversed to that decision while, when the Local Authority involved the citizens and all those who were interested from the very beginning of the decision making process, not only the final decision but also the implementation process were shared by all, providing in the end a very efficacious solution and preventing any discussion/opposition in the future.

If you are interested to know some successful case studies of Participatory approach applied by Local Authorities to face specific issues, involving Conflict Mediation too, read this detailed interview. The Open Space Technology, and the reason why this is a successful tecnique to promote a Participatory approach to citizenship, is described in details as well. 
 

LORENZO FIORAMONTI, Professor of Politic Economy at University of Bologna (Italy) and of Pretoria (South Africa) - "EU policy, global governance and coherence for development"
 

Even if EU can exercise a strong influence on the decisions related to global Governance, Lorenzo Fioramonti - Professor of Politic Economy at University of Bologna (Italy) and at University of Pretoria (South Africa) - believes that the EU doesn’t really use this power, due to internal weaknesses and short strategic farsightedness. On his opinion, EU politics are quite often characterized by aspirations and contradictions, which are likely not to fit well with the Policy for Development so much supported by EU itself. See the case of EPAs (Economic Partnership Agreement), for example.
 

SERGE LATOUCHE, Professor of Economic Sciences, University of Paris (France), the main exponent of the Degrowth Theory - "Let's give a name to the future: Development or Degrowth?"

Serge Latouche, Professor of  Economic Sciences at the University of Paris - Sud (France), is an expert of economic and social connections between North and South of the world and the main exponent of the Degrowth theory. The interview is focused on a crucial question: what's the name for the future, Development or Degrowth? Are these two theories, both named to face the most urgent human and environmental issues of our planet, in strong opposition each other or shall we find a point of connection to make the world, through the two different approaches, really sustainable?

CECILE KYENGE, Provincial Counsellor of Modena (Italy) - "Migrants and politics"

Cecile Kyenge , nationality of Congo, is a Provincial Counsellor of Modena (Italy). 
 

In her opinion, a necessary pre-condition for the achievement of the MDGs goals is that of building a policy of dialogue between Local Authorities and civil society so that a more efficient and equitable model of development can be achieved, leading to inclusive and empowered communities. Such is the case for example of the city of Modena, where immigrates, in the recent past, were invited to take part to the management of res publica through the so-called Immigrant's Council. "Even in such a case, however, that's not enough" says Cecile Kyenge. It’s first necessary to provide the immigrates with the tools required to empower them to be an active force in the political decision-making process of the town - starting from schools where immigrates can learn the Italian language, for example. Both immigrates and local authority need to be educated: inter-cultural competencies and the 'know how' focused to satisfy both the needs of locals and of immigrates are a must.
 

VINCENZO PIRA, Expert of International Cooperation (Armadilla NGO), writer - "An analysis after Summit 2010 on MDGs"

Vincenzo Pira , expert of International Cooperation issues ( Armadilla NGO ),makes his analysis the day after the Summit of New York on MDGs . 
What maybe the reason why only few Countries maintained their promise to provide 0.7% of their GDP for Development? Has been Sarkozy's suggestion to tax the finantial transactions successful and what are the technical implications for that? Read in the interview Vincenzo Pira's analysis and his additional suggestions for supporting MDGs

LUCA BASILE, Expert of International Cooperation (Amici dei popoli NGO) - "Climate changes, culture of growth and consensus issues"

It's undeniable CO2 emissions, whose increase in the last recent years is proportional to the increase of GDP (PIL in italian language) of the Advanced Countries, are the most influent parameter responsible for climate changes, and it's undeniable the G8 Countries are responsible for most of the 60% of the CO2 emission in world history. "I personally believe the fundamental matter is consensus - says Luca Basile, General Secretary of Amici dei Popoli NGO - An increase of GDP assures an immediate increase of consensus, while climate changes have usually only long term effects... Which means climate change will not be felt as an urgent problem by current politicians, unless civil society makes pressure and sensitization for that"

UMBERTO ALLEGRETTI, Constitutionalist, Director of the Association CRS (Centre for Studies and Initiatives for the reform of the Italian Government) - "Participative Democracy and role of government, institutions, common people"

Umberto Allegretti, Constitutionalist, Professor of Public Law at University of Florence (Italy), director of the Association CRS (Centre for Studies and Initiatives for the reform of the Italian Government), believes that the Participative Democracy is an interaction between society and institutions which can be successful only if there's a reciprocal trust, developed in such a way that what nowadays is only an influence, exercisable by common citizens on the administrative decisional process, becomes atendential obligation, to which Administrations voluntarily submitted themselves.

He also cites some good examples of participatory approaches applied in Italy, in the process of reconstruction after catastrophes like the earthquakes happened in the regions of Friuli, Umbria, Marche, and he highlights how much important can be the influence exercisable by the government on the effective application of participatory approach. 
 

ANA MARIA SOLIS, senior consultant of CEASS (Centre for Education to Environmental Sustainability, Modena) -"Education to participatory approach needs time, both for citizens and for local authorities"
 

ANTONIO BELLIA, Artistic director of Festival Sicilia Ambiente - "A Documentary 4 days-non stop Festival to argue with citizens about environmental issues"
 

Antonio Bellia is the Artistic Director of Festival Sicilia Ambiente and President of Demetra Produzioni (production of documentaries related to environment sustainability). 
 

He believes that, in order to face the environmental issues, citizens must first be informed . They need to develop awareness for environment issues, but this subject is very often not included in usual TV and magazines schedules. In his opinion this purpose might be reached for example through Festival Sicilia Ambiente, an original Festival (Sicily, Italy) where documentaries related to environmental issues have being played, for 4 days long, once a year. Besides documentaries, other initiatives have being run together with Associations and Institutions, in order to promote among common people a culture to support environment sustainability. 
 

ANNALISA GANDINI, Educator, E. FERMI (Modena) - "The responsibilities of school in promoting awareness"
 

Annalisa Gandini, a mother of four, is Teacher of Religion at the Technical Industrial Secondary School ITIS E.FERMI of Modena (Italy). Since she has been involved in International Cooperation for Development since her youth, she shares this experience with her students. She considers it as an essential “brick” in building a World Citizen. When I hear my child, in pre-school, talking about his classmate as Ismail and not "my black friend" , I know we are building a "Citizen of the World" - she says.

In her opinion the role of the school is essential to build ethical and right awareness among children but the usual scholastic program does not tackle this.

She thinks however it’s responsibility of the teachers to include these issues in their curricula. But in which way?
 

Read in this interview the strategy she used to promote at school Culture that supports Cooperation for Development
 

FABIO POGGI, Municipality of Modena, Councillor for International Cooperation -"Modena: a city where the attention to development issues is a matter of common ground"
 

• Full written interview on wiki

• Audio interview on Youtube, Italian language: Part 1 Description of activities related to International Cooperation issues and their impact on local common people and Associations; evaluation of indicators to measure the impac; Part 2 How to communicate International Cooperation activities to common people; how to spread a culture supporting Development; role of "meaningful witnesses"; Part 3 Lack of synergy inside the same Municipality and suggestions for improvement

• Pdf version: "Modena: a city where the attention to development issues is a matter of common ground"
   

• Related to this interview, and to the Municipality of Modena, see also some examples of Good practices useful for our manuals:
   

Good practice - The Party of International Cooperation (Modena, Italy)

Good Practice - Course for Volunteers of International Cooperation (Modena, Italy)

Good practice - ModenaCooperazione - a local magazine to support International Cooperation (Modena, Italy)

Good practice - The Water Party - Participatory approach for environmental sustainability (Modena, Italy)

Good practice - International Cooperation at school: meeting with Ymer Dagmawi and video "Like a man on earth" (Modena, Italy)

Good practice - VIA per VIA: A project to induce Italians, Migrants and Institutions to work together for the improvement of the quality of life in Modena

Good practice - Open Space Technology to promote intercultural dialogue (Modena, Italy)

 

• Interview useful as contribution to Manuals, Chapters: Introduction for Local Authority and How Local Authorities can contribute to the achievement of MDGS?and How do we manage the human resources of programs and projects? and Partnership Management and Communication and Evaluation and Analyse the communication needs of each stakeholder and Planning and executing a communication action for promoting awareness and Good practices and Bad practices

GIOVANNI GUARALDI, University for International Cooperation CUSCOS (Modena, Italy) - "What's the reason why Universities should promote and support International Cooperation for Development?"

Giovanni Guaraldi is the current Director of CUSCOS, a Centre of University Services for International Cooperation (Italy, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia). He’s also Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and panel member of EACS Guidelines on the Prevention and Management of Metabolic Diseases in HIV.

In this interview for Eugad he makes an appassionate analysis of the reason why Universities should promote and support International Cooperation for Development.

He believes that it is through experiences which one gains by partecipating in International Cooperation Project that a person can really enrich his professional skills, besides the human experience that one derives from it. But it is crucial, for this purpose, to promote a better communication among common people, giving voice to the experiences directly lived by the beneficiaries or by the cooperators involved in dedicated Projects. "We must make evident how much you can enrich yourself through this kind of experience - he says - We must let common people “touch with their own hands “ what it means. Not only inside the University, but also outside, for example by promoting in the town Intercultural Debates and Events, and also taking lessons in the Secondary schools and Seminaries for post graduate students".Prof. Guaraldi believes that young people have an extraordinary energy, and they can really do a lot for International Cooperation, if they are sufficiently informed and addressed to.

In his interview he also describes the approach by Cuscos towards international issues and its interaction with different Universities and schools