The Coordinamento Nazionale Nuove Generazioni Italiane (CONNGI) brings together 31 associations of youths with parents who have migrated to Italy. The organization wants to help them become a driving force for the country's' development.
Youths coming from families that have experienced migration have joined together in what is called the Coordinamento Nazionale Nuove Generazioni Italiane (CONNGI) in Italy. It's an umbrella organization of over thirty associations of the children of migrants living in the country and together, they want to become a driving force for development and integration.
Showing a new face of the country
The idea behind CONNGI began from a public call from the Italian labor ministry in 2014 for all associations of migrants' children in Italy. After two years of work, the body was formed on October 14, 2016, through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the associations. On October 13, 2017, CONNGI was set up as an 'association of social promotion' (APS) by 31 associations in 13 Italian cities. It includes about 4,200 people who speak 33 languages. About 70 percent of them are under 30.
New generations with migration backgrounds are ''the virtuous driving force of change in the country'', reads a message by Federico Soda, Mediterranean director for the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
CONNGI presented at IOM headquarters in Rome.
The youths ''are ready to take advantage of chances for dialogue with (government, Ed.) institutions'', Italian labor minister Giuliano Poletti noted in a message addressed to CONNGI. ''You have proved that you can represent the country's new face.''
Efforts in schools, work, culture and citizenship
In the school sector, CONNGI wants to promote the training of teachers in multicultural classes, increase support for schools, strengthen the involvement of families and build an orientation and school-work transition system.
As concerns work, the association intends to try to valorize formal and informal skills and provide incentives for the internalization of the labor market. In the cultural field, CONNGI is trying to foster conservation of the culture of their countries of origin and strengthen links with Italian culture and promote sports and involvement in associations.
CONNGI also supports initiatives for equal civil and political rights ''We are the children of migrants who were born and raised in Italy. We educated ourselves and created associations,'' said Marwa Mahmoud, CONNGI secretary. ''We decided to remain here, to be here'' and ''calling us migrants or non-EU immigrants is incorrect. We are Italians.'' CONNGi ''is meant as an opportunity for Italy'' and vice versa, said CONNGI president Simohamed Kaabour, whose ''wide-ranging aim is to be representative of Italy and Italian-ness here and in countries of origin'', serving as a ''witness to different life paths'' where there is no ''migrant or citizen'', but only ''space for active citizenship''.