In November 2001, in view of the recent developments in civic activism and of the broadening of its powers and responsibilities related to the government of society, the protection of rights and the development of democracy, FONDACA – Active Citizenship Foundation – was created. The mission of FONDACA is to contribute to the growth, sharing and better use of knowledge and scientific information on the emerging phenomenon of citizenships.
The FONDACA’s activities programme is focused on three main areas:

CIVIC ACTIVISM
Euro-American Colloquia on Citizenship. The European Session 2009 of the Euro-American Colloquia on Citizenship was held on June 3rd in Pisa. FONDACA, in cooperation with Pisa Sant'Anna Advanced School and the Representation of the European Commission in Italy, organized the seminar “The Single Currency and European Citizenship: an Assessment”. Main speakers of the seminar were Hugo KAUFMANN, Vivien A. SCHMIDT, Arianna MONTANARI, Cesare PINELLI, Daniela PIANA, Nando PAGNONCELLI, Stefan COLLIGNON, Pier Virgilio DASTOLI, Giovanni MORO and Marco FREY. Download the overview of the program.

AC Committee – Civil Society Index. On April, an Advisory Committee was created in order to support the second edition of the research on Italian civil society that FONDACA and Cittadinanzattiva are carrying on since the beginning of the 2009. Until now, the Advisory Commettee was gathered two times. During the meeting the participants were invited to discussed about the objectives, the steps and the methodology of the research and about some aspects of the Italian civil society. The meeting were attended by the following experts: Mariano Bottaccio - CNCA, Costanza Fanelli - Casa Internazionale delle donne, Diego Galli - Radio Radicale, Toni Mira - Avvenire, Maddalena Pelagalli - CNAMC, Marina Porro - UGL ed Elena Tropeano - Formez.

GOVERNANCE
SISP 23rd Conference. The annual conference of the Italian Society of Political Science will be held on September 17-19 in Rome. The conference includes plenary sessions and panel discussions focused on different topics. In particular Marco Almagisti and Giovanni Moro will chair one of these panel entitled “Between parties and organizations: changes in political participation”; a second panel entitled “The quality of the state in Italy: rules, ability and adjustment” will be chaired by Daniela Piana and Marco Almagisti. Read more about the program

Citizens in Europe. A new book by Giovanni Moro entitled Cittadini in Europa (Citizens in Europe), will be soon released in Italian by Carocci publisher. In the process of Europe construction, the citizens are the most mentioned and the most feared, but at the same time they are the least popular. This is especially true for the active citizenship organizations which work as actors in the European policy making, both in Brussels and national and local level. Cittadini in Europa aims to help bridge this gap of knowledge. Further details will be soon available on the Foundation website.

CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP
Master's Degree in Corporate Citizenship - Integrated strategies of social responsibility. The first session of the Master's Degree in Corporate Citizenship 5th edition was held from June 16th to 18th in Rome. This first phase began with an introduction unit entirely supervised by Charles Derber and Sandra Waddock, professors at the Boston College. Read more about the course

Thematic seminars on Global Compact principles. The first series of thematic seminars on the United Nation Global Compact principles is going to be opened on July 8th at Milan. The meeting, organized by FONDACA as focal point of the Global Compact Italian Network, will aim to deepen the knowledge of these principles through a discussion on the different interpretations and the methods of implementation in a context like the Italian one. The first meeting will be organized in cooperation with Adecco Italy and it will be focused on the labour rights principles. For further information go to the Global Compact Italy website

The seminar “The global and local aspect of Corporate Social Responsibility: experiences compared” was organized by FONDACA, as focal point of the Global Compact Italian Network and it was held on June 12th at the LUISS University of Rome. It analyzed the role, the possible interaction and local implementation of the EU policy on Corporate Social Responsibility and programs promoted by international institutions like the UN Global Compact and Oecd guidelines on the same field. Read more about the seminar

The presentation of the book La società civile tra eredità e sfide. Rapporto sull’Italia del Civil Society Index (Civil Society between Heritage and Challenger. The Italian Report of the Civil Society Index) written by Giovanni Moro and Ilaria Vannini was held on June 12th in Cagliari. The presentation was organized by Cittadinanzattiva movement in Cagliari. Read the presentation of the book

"CAMERE APERTE” the first report on the parliamentary activities of the 16th legislature’s first year (2008-2009), was presented by Cittadinanzattiva, Controllo Cittadino and Openpolis on June 16th in Rome. Download the report

The EAST Forum 4th edition was held on June 25th in Rome. The topic proposed was “New world governance for sustainable growth”. The EAST Forum is a permanent forum which involves a large number of qualified representatives from the political-institutional, international academic and economic worlds and representatives from European and international civic organizations. The Forum is promoted by EAST and it is devoted to a topic of the current scenario. Read the program

BOOKS. The book La qualità della democrazia in Italia. Capitale sociale e politica (The quality of democracy in Italy. Social capital and politics) written by Marco Almagisti has just published by Carocci. Go to the books section

PRESS REVIEW. A selection of newspapers and reviews articles have been published on the Foundation’s website. They apply to events carried out in the last period. Read more on press review.

FONDACA POINTS OUT. National and international conference, seminar and workshop. Read more about the events

OPPORTUNITIES. The Foundation points out new updates in the section related to call for applications, call for papers and grants.

JULY 5-11 , VENICE – EUROPEAN SUMMER SCHOOL

JULY 29 – AUGUST 15, LJUBLJANA – EUROPEAN CONSORTIUM FOR POLITICAL RESEARCH SUMMER SCHOOL