Diaspore Per la Pace (DPP) is a humanitarian and intermediary organization that supports migrants and associations of migrants and Italians. We collaborate with various communities in Palermo, Sicily, Italy, and internationally in the areas of migration, cooperation, and development.
PROJECTS:
Strengthening capacity for co-development (2022-2024)
In 2022-2024, DPP and colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) carried out a research and cooperation project with migrant associations based in Sicily that work in their countries of origin. In the first phase of the project, we documented the work of 80 migrant associations in Sicily involved in transnational co-development: 33 in Palermo; 28 in Catania; 12 in Messina; 4 in Marsala; and 3 in Trapani. Their activities in the countries of origin in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and South America have a variety of social, cultural, and political purposes, among others. In the second phase of the project, we interviewed the leaders and members of ten associations in Palermo and Marsala, detailing their work primarily in their countries of origin. The Reports page tells the story and work of each of these associations.
In the third phase of this project we collaborated with eight migrant-led associations based in Palermo and Marsala:
- ASOM – Africa Solidale Oltre il Mediterraneo (West Africa)
- Associazione Algerina per la Cooperazione (Algeria)
- ASSO – Associazione Senegalese della Sicilia Occidentale (Senegal)
- Didone (Tunisia)
- Donne di Benin City (Nigeria)
- Martin Luter (Ghana)
- Mondo Africa (Guinea)
- UNIS – l’Unione di Ivoriani in Sicilia (Ivory Coast).
The project funded the co-production and publication of websites for most of these associations, as well as support in securing funds for future co-development projects in Africa.
DPP continues to support ongoing capacity building and co-development project planning and fundraising with six of these associations based in Sicily. This is part of DPP’s broader commitment to:
- Help the integration of migrant and diaspora associations into the broader Italian and European network of non-profit organizations; and
- Facilitate these associations’ access to vital organizational and financial resources.
Organizing communities to realize human rights
Between 2024-2027, DPP and colleagues from Penn are collaborating with eight migrant and diaspora community associations in Palermo on a research and community organizing project focused on human rights in the city.
Our partner associations and community research coordinators and organizers include leaders from Palermo’s North and West African and South and Southeast Asian communities (Algeria, Bangladesh, Cote d’Ivoire, Morocco, Nigeria, Philippines, Senegal, Sri Lanka)
In 2015, the Charter of Palermo enumerated various rights to which everyone living in the city should have access, from housing and health care to asylum and freedom from violence. A decade later, which rights are being realized in the city’s migrant and diaspora communities? And which rights remain unrealized, for some or all communities?
The first part of this project has involved people from across Africa, Asia, and the Americas in documenting human rights that are realized and unrealized in their communities in Palermo. Each participant in a group or individual interview brings a photograph, object, or brief video that represents one or more rights. Their analysis is the foundation of the research phase of this project.
In the second part of the project, our partner associations and community organizers will work on outreach and organizing to promote human rights in their communities.