Today CoLomba (Cooperazione Lombardia), the bigger italian solidarity entity on a regional basis, composed by more than 100 members – has completed the assembly process started last June. The new Secretary has been elected: Alfredo Somoza, President of ICEI, will be also the President of CoLomba for the next 4 years.
The main themes to relaunch the Association of Lombardy NGOs will be: communication, in order to tell people living in Lombardy which is our work and what is our committment; to build stronger partnership with the profit sector – as recommended also by the new national regulations – and to collaborate with local bodies to put into practice supportive policies for international cooperation.
The members of CoLomba are working on different sectors: development cooperation, emergency, children sponsorship, global citizenship education, training and migrants hospitality and they highligh how hard is the current situation, due to a political opposition towards these fields and sectors.
Alfredo Somoza, President of ICEI and CoLomba, said:
“Lombardy region represents half the amount of the non-governmental cooperation in Italty. It’s a huge contribution to the society and our efforts are made both from big organisations and smaller entities, working on local level. Volunteers, development workers, technicians and supporters are collaborating to represent italian solidarity worldwile, facing big phenomena and changes, aiming at fostering integration and social inclusion. Our committment is concrete: we promote activities, build relationships and enhance social bonds. We don’t deserve all those verbal attacks we’ve received recently. Far from fuel an argument, our aim is to tell people living here in Lombardy what we actually do and to promote an alternative narration, to dismantle fake news and instill hope about the chance to promote a better world”