On February 7, 2011 a Memorandum of Understanding called “Cooperation for the establishment of a stable Mediterranean Network of associations and institutions on young people and youth policies (Many)” was signed at the Town Hall of Cosenza.

The agreement involved several institutions of the area of Cosenza: the Province and the Municipality of Cosenza, the Carical Foundation, the Department of Sociology and Political Science of the University of Calabria and the social cooperative “Delfino Lavoro”. All the interested parties, represented by the Mayor, Salvatore Perugini, by the Assessor for Youth Policies, Francesca Bozzo, the Spokesman for the Arts of the Province Maria Francesca Corigliano, the president of the Carical Foundation, Prof. Mario Bozzo, the director of the Unical Sociology Department  Prof. Pietro Fantozzi, and the president of the “Delfino lavoro” Anna Maria Bevilacqua, have already started specific strategies in the development of youth participation in social dialogue and cooperation.

The aim of the MoU is to increase the prominence of young people and youth associations in the Mediterranean area both inside the societies they belong, and towards the local, national and international institutions; to help increase the commitment of public institutions for young people, for their rights and their future; to spread the culture and the practice of dialogue and cooperation among the young generations of the Mediterranean; to promote sustainable development, peace, and to overcome inequalities in the Mediterranean. Through the development of the euro-Mediterranean cooperation on youth and youth policies, the parties consider to contribute to achieve the “Millennium Goals” set by the UN and aimed at reducing poverty, inequality and deprivation of rights in the world.

The work schedule provides the definition of the essential features of construction and operation of the stable network; the activation of a web space that facilitates cooperation in distance and accumulation of expertise and best practices; the realization, during 2011, of an edition of “MeYouMe – Mediterranean Youth Meeting”, attended by about 150 young participants, during which the “Many” Network will be formally launched.

This ambitious project starts from Cosenza, a Mediterranean city, that is geographically, historically and culturally open to the interaction between people and cultures, just like the whole region, both in ancient times and in recent history. Cosenza is like a “bridge” between Europe and the Mediterranean, and finds in the “Mediterranean vocation” a significant prospective for its development.

“It would be a contradiction to pursue the objectives of a network of young people without first creating a network among us”. So the Mayor Salvatore Perugini comments on the formalization of an institutional network on youth and youth policies in the Mediterranean.

“It has been a very wished path by Delfino Lavoro –President Bevilacqua comments – that put in practice eight years of experience of the association, to promote dialogue between Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Italy, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Palestine, Spain and Tunisia”.

Civil Service 2011