Bari, “Polo Millegiorni” initiative: almost 300 children involved in Save the Children’s program.

Supplementary educational services and laboratory activities that have seen the involvement of 284 children from 0 to 6 years old and their families, with integrative educational activities for children from 12 to 36 months and fun and educational workshops for the little ones, with readings aloud, psychomotor skills and workshops on approaching music, art and nature.

These are the main results of the first 22 months of activity of the San Paolo 0-6 Hub, promoted by Save the Children as part of the “Polo Millegiorni” program to reduce inequalities and combat educational poverty, from the early years of life, in contexts with strong socio-economic vulnerability, expanding the quality educational offer in continuity and within nursery schools.

The project, hosted in the spaces of the “Don Milani” comprehensive institute and created with a network of partners and local entities, It also includes the activation of a help desk for families, which has involved a total of 272 people with orientation and support activities for social and health services and training meetings to support parenting.

All activities were at the heart of the initiative “Hub San Paolo 0-6: the centrality of education and care of boys and girls and families in the Municipio III of Bari”, promoted yesterday by Save the Children in the presence of the councilors for Justice and Social Welfare and Civil Rights, Elisabetta Vaccarella, and for Knowledge, Vito Lacoppola, the president of the Municipio III Luisa Verdoscia, the director of the Italy-Europe Programs of Save the Children Daniele Timarco and the representatives of the Puglia Region, of the ASL Bari – PO San Paolo, of the social-health, educational and Third Sector services of the territory.

The event was organized to share the results achieved in the first two years of the project, but also to reflect together with the local stakeholders on the actions needed to respond in an integrated manner to the needs of boys, girls and families of the San Paolo neighborhood and on the future prospects of the Integrated System 0-6.

"I would like to thank Save the Children and all the operators involved for the commitment and dedication with which they created Hub San Paolo 0-6 – is the comment by Mayor Vito Leccese -. A project that has had a significant impact on the lives of almost 300 children, offering them fundamental educational and recreational opportunities, especially in vulnerable socio-economic contexts, activating collaborations with the entities of the entire neighborhood, to create a network that we hope will become increasingly dense and strong. Children's education is the key to building a better future; investing in their growth means sowing knowledge, values ​​and responsibility, guaranteeing a more just and aware society."

"Save the Children has been committed to fighting educational poverty for years and, with the Millegiorni Centres, has been operating since 2022 in several of the most vulnerable areas of Italy, marked by a greater lack of educational services for early childhood. - he has declared Daniel Timarchus -. In these two years of activity in the San Paolo neighborhood, the project has made possible, thanks to the synergy with partners and local actors, the birth of a real educational community that has also actively involved families with educational, cultural and social activities, giving concrete answers to the needs of girls and boys. We will continue to be present in this territory with our commitment, hoping for a strong synergy with local institutions".

Overall, during the last school year, 56 early childhood services (0-3 years) were active in the city, with 26 authorized places for every 100 children in this age group. Between 2013 and 2022, active services increased by over 60%, from 34 in 2013 to the current 56; while authorized places per 100 children more than doubled, from 12 to 26. Most users (55%) attended directly managed municipal services while the remaining 45% received grants to families who then used public or private services.

The intervention, financed under the Development and Cohesion Fund (FSC), is implemented by Save the Children in partnership with a network of social and institutional partners (APS Mama Happy Welcoming Family Services Center, Coop. Soc. Occupation and Solidarity, University of Bologna Alma Mater Studiorum, Cultural Association of Pediatricians, Municipality of Bari and the Don Milani Comprehensive Institute).

The San Paolo Hub 0-6 facilitated the creation of a territorial care network made up of health, social and educational institutions that worked together to promote the well-being of boys and girls between 0 and 6 years old and their families, supporting in some cases the process of integrated care of the most fragile families, where necessary also with the provision of a care allowance.
In almost two years of activity, the needs of families identified by the operators are numerous: from difficulties in orienting oneself to local services to the lack of services and spaces for early childhood, from psychological distress to difficult access to health services, from economic fragility to educational poverty.

The Hub San Paolo 0-6 project also worked in close collaboration with nurseries and kindergartens, involving them in a research and training path guided by the University of Bologna on the themes of educational continuity in the 0-6 age group (as foreseen by the 0-6 Pedagogical Guidelines) and in the drafting of a shared document (Safeguarding System) to make educational contexts safe already in early childhood.