Centro per lo Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo Sviluppo Creativo “Danilo Dolci”“Danilo Dolci”

Palermo and Partinico, Italy

i. Who was Danilo Dolci?ii. The history of the organisationiii. Aimsiv. Activitiesv. Structurevi. Methodology: Reciprocal

Maieutic Approach

i. i. Who Who was was Danilo Danilo Dolci?Dolci?

Sociologist, pacifist and educator that arrived in Sicily in the 50’ and there developed a nonviolent fight against mafia and for community development.

ii. ii. The history of the The history of the organisationorganisationCentro Studi ed Iniziative (1958)(when Dolci and his collaborators started their work)

Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo (1985)

(after the work of the organisation became more connected

with nonviolent education, crativity and development)

Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo “Danilo Dolci” (1998)

(after Dolci’s death)

iii. iii. AimsAims Disseminate the life and work of Danilo Dolci and

awaring for the actuality of his writings; Promote the reciprocal maieutic approach in the school

context and at international level; Promote innovative processes in the civil society and

public schools, through maieutic workshops and seminars;

Develop educational courses about the maieutic structure that can boost the grow of “new” educators and trainers;

Educate for peace and nonviolence as a tool for cultural, social and civic promotion;

Promote active citizenship and participative democracy.

iv. iv. ActivitiesActivities Organise maieutic workshops in schools, universities,

organisations and institutions;

Organise cultural and educational activities that promote the

life and work of Danilo Dolci;

Make that the books Danilo wrote during his life are published

again and organise new anthologies that gather his most

important writings;

Organise European projects that involve youth from diverse

countries, about the themes of nonviolence, peace, active

participation and reciprocal maieutic;

Organise European projects in the sphere of adult education

using as privileged method the reciprocal maieutic approach.

Local and international Local and international activitiesactivities

Grundtvig multilateral – LLP (24 months+international partnership)

Training for trainers and action-research about the impact of RMA in the field of training and education delivered to adult learning staff.

Make RMA become one recognised approach in the field.

Reciprocal maieutic workshops with teachers of secondary schools and students

About the classical themes of a maieutic workshop (educate-teach, communicate-transmit)

Increased communication, better relationships, increased creative processes, actiate participation processes, etc…

v. v. StructureStructure

vi. vi. Methodology: RMAMethodology: RMA“…process of collective exploration that takes as a

departure point the experience and the intuition of individuals.” (Dolci, 1996)

Learner centred approach Uses cooperative learning Uses the circle as priveliged phisical disposition All participants have the occasion to express the

own thoughts and opinions

RMA is intended to create a safe context for people to express themselves, to listen each other, to discover, to be creative, to learn relational and communicational competencies, to feel valued as a human being.

The main principles behind the approach The main principles behind the approach are:are: Listening - expression

Communication

Confrontation

Individual and social responsibility

Active participation of all

Cooperation

Nonviolence

Building complex images of reality (with the point of view and contribution of all)

Value/emphasis in the individual and group experience

Creative process

Sharing of power (in contraposition to domination and concentration of power)

Awareness/self awareness

Ask questions and analyse problems instead of impose solutions – ask the good questions

The impact observed n participants is:The impact observed n participants is:

learn to share points of view with other people

learn to communicate

learn to confront with other people in a nonviolent way

develop listening and verbal communication skills

learn to value and respect others

learn to respect difference

learn to value the group and to cooperate

develop active participation awareness and skills

strengthen democratic competences

facilitate and reinforce the integration between people from different

backgrounds

Contacts

Amico Dolci – Presidentamicodolci@libero.itcentrodanilodolci@libero.it Address: Via Goriza 22 – 90133 Palermo, ItalyTel.: +390916164224Fax: +390916230849 www.danilodolci.it

Nonviolent demonstration (Dolci with the local people)