THEn a world that offers infinite opportunities but where abundance does not nourish, rather, dazzles or scares, growing up can become vertigo. The work of starts from here, from a generation orphaned of compasses Unhate Foundation. An engine of alliances, a network of experiments, a platform that brings together schools and hospitals, those who make money and those on the streets, third sector entities and research bodies, it is a work in progress. Who has the patience to stay close to young people, tuning in from time to time to those projects designed especially for them. Projects that help them transform the fear of falling into that chasm into the courage to jump over it.
«To fight the culture of hatred, let’s give a future to young people»: the challenge of the Unhate Foundation
«With Unhate we want to generate a highly innovative project, where young people will decide for young people. Precisely for this reason we created a scientific committee that has an average age of 30 and includes several twenty-year-olds.” So Alessandro Benettonwho is the creator and president of the Unhate Foundation, described the foundation. In truth, Unhate had already had a first life, in 2011, at United Colors of Benetton, when it took shape as platform to fight the culture of hate and was marked by the award-winning campaign between world leaders kissing each other on the mouth. In this second life, Unhate is reborn with a decidedly operational attitude and with the belief that those who feel seen and those who perceive they have a future do not need to hate. «Countering hatred and violence in all its forms is today more than ever a social necessity» continues Alessandro Benetton.
«We are convinced that the transformation of hatred into dialogue and reconciliation can take place first and foremost in the field of education, but also through art, sport and technology».
Recognize aspirations
At the operational helm of the structure is Irene Boni, a person who holds worlds together. Manager, director of Unhate, four children, leads a team of only women and girls and creates projects in the area, such as Art4Mind: built with the Psychiatry Day Hospital of the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, it intertwines medicine, art, technology and data science. «It is an innovative project that supports traditional therapy and works, among other things, meet young artists – an example is the street artist Poeta della Serra – and young patients with serious psychiatric problems. The initial feedback from the doctors is already very positive” he says, recalling that just a few days ago a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Culture recognized art and culture as determining factors for health. «Very robust measurement systems will gradually validate the impact of the Art4Mind laboratories over time», he continues.
Irene Boni (left), director of the Unhate Foundation, and Alessandro Benetton (centre), creator and president of the Foundation, with a group of students from the Baffi Institute in Fiumicino. (photo Giovanni Samarini)
«In fact, we work to create effective and scalable models in the area, i.e. experiences that can be replicated on a larger scale and in different scenarios. That’s what we want to happen with too MIA, an orientation course for high schools which we activated at the Baffi Institute in Fiumicino. We help boys and girls to reflect on their abilities, to recognize their authentic aspirations and to become active seekers of the future at work, implementing techniques such as podcasting and videomaking to interview adults and get to know the jobs they carry out first-hand. We care that MIA too become a scalable project and, with this objective, we aim to create a table with various other entities in the territories to define a common approach to propose to the Ministry of Education and Merit”.
Irma Testa: «A ring can change a girl’s future»
Irma Testa, 28 years old, world and Olympic boxing champion, is also part of the scientific committee of the Unhate Foundation.. His was a poor life on the outskirts, until he recreated himself thanks to the ring, transforming limits into levers to overturn destinies every time. «I know what it means to grow up in those contexts, and I know how much a gym, a teacher, a community can change the future» he claims.
The sport is, in fact, one of the declared lines of action of the Unhate Foundation, together with theartat the social mobilityat the research. In recent weeks, thoughts at headquarters have been on the second edition of Joy Point. It’s the summer camp in collaboration with the Sport Senza Frontiere association – which in turn collaborates with Caritas and the police. Last year at the Circolo delle Muse in Rome it involved 150 children in situations of socio-economic hardship and dozens of peers from the neighborhood, together with their families.
The model predicted that baseball, swimming, rugby or volleyball would be grafted educational workshops to learn to deconstruct hatred and discrimination with the language of kindness. «Hatred often arises from fear and exclusion» comments Irma Testa. «Sport, on the other hand, creates bonds. This is why I believe that Unhate’s work is fundamental: building spaces where young people can feel free, protected and capable.”
A generation without compasses faced with too many chances
Because, then, the majority of young people suffer precisely from this, from the lack of compasses, from the uncertainty of the future, from the anxiety of not being adequate, from the difficulty of finding one’s own path. This is revealed by extensive national research Fragile-mappae mundi of a new generationthe result of Unfiltered, the permanent Observatory of the Unhate Foundation, which in this, as in all projects, is supported by Edizione SpA, Mundys and Aeroporti di Roma.
The research, led by Mauro Magatti, university professor and president of Fondazione Poetica, analyzed how young Italians between the ages of 13 and 24 are reacting to a context characterized by a wealth of opportunities – in terms of information, imagination, potential – greater than that experienced by any other generation.
Expand trust, to find the way
Well, the transition between this overabundance of chances and the translation into a real path in one’s life is anything but obvious, explains Professor Magatti: 34 percent experience a fragile balance and need to be accompanied in the transitions; 25 percent feel exposed to performance pressure and oscillate between strong activation and risk of overload; 24 percent perceive the world as scary and paralyzing, struggle in relationships and internalize discomfort; only 17 percent are confident, open, active, have a good emotional balance and good planning skills, know how to see opportunities and orient themselves in complexity.
«The point is to understand how to ensure that trust expands, which at least doubles the number of boys and girls who recognize opportunities and transform them into a life path. And this in an extremely complex and confusing historical moment” says Magatti.
The importance of sport, a school of socialization
«Of course, being able or not to seize opportunities does not depend only on subjective factors. In an overall scenario that sees the social fabric disintegrating and specific policies lacking, The family economic conditions, the quality of the educational institutions encountered, and the relational opportunities available weigh heavily on a personal level» continues Magatti.
«I believe that the first pillar is schoolwhich must rethink itself and develop a new orientation capacity that goes beyond the idea of professions in the strict sense and accompanies the kids.”
The second pillar is the associative dimensionstarting from sports associations and schools. «Unfortunately they tend to be excessively inspired by the myth of performance. Instead, sport is first of all a great school of socialization. Alongside sport there is music, there is culture, there is volunteering. The associative dimension is a fundamental experience in this phase of life, where we need to distance ourselves from the family to experiment and learn”, says Magatti. Thus anticipating the theme of the next research: the relationship of young people with space and time.
«We will also carry it out by involving the boys and girls from four schools already identified: they will learn to construct questionnaires and draw up the final report. And next year, we will present the results in Parma, the first Italian city to become the European Youth Capital” comments Irene Boni. «Research often looks at children through numbers and adults only highlight their shortcomings and fragilities. Instead we want to show that fragility can be a driver of changeif there is someone next to the young people who helps them transform the crisis into growth.”
