WAVES is the first network that unites youth socio-cultural realities on the Italian territory, already counting more than 50, with the goal of connecting them nationwide, mapping their presence on the territory and confronting with policy-makers, bringing out this phenomenon that is as widespread as it is invisible.
The network works on three actions:
Research: to empirically investigate the phenomenon through participatory mapping of the territory.
Community building: to contaminate the ideas and projects and disseminate shared skills.
Advocacy: to bring out projects at the national level and directly confront policy makers.
The importance of establishing a project network such as Waves lies not only in its goals and activities, but more importantly in the fact that the very need for its establishment came from below, from the founding activity of three youth association realities, from their direct experience in the field, and from the conviction that the true value of youth socio-cultural activism for the community does not lie in the size of the projects, let alone in the legal form of the entity proposing them.Â