A PROJECT TO COMBAT EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING IN THE 4TH MUNICIPALITY OF ROME
In Rome’s 4th Municipality, early school leaving is not merely a real risk; it is becoming a reality. It is a piece of a puzzle that reveals a vulnerability, within an institutional context that is demonstrating a desire to change and a commitment to creating tangible opportunities.
For this reason, the Fondazione MAIRE – ETS first signed a partnership agreement with Rome’s 4th Municipality, and then joined the Community Education Pact alongside a dense network of organisations active in the area.
This led to the creation of the ‘Energie Giovani’ project, aimed at tackling the phenomenon of early school leaving in the area through a scheme that brings together schools, the local community and the wider area.
Through training and orientation courses, workshops, and practical and experiential activities, we want to reach out to young secondary school pupils in the local area, talking to them about citizenship, human rights, the environment, and the future. The energy transition and the STEM sector can offer them great opportunities for their future: we don’t need to change the content of our courses, just adapt the language we use to convey it!
We want to help girls and boys discover their talents, boost their motivation and make more informed choices about their future paths. Because studying isn’t just about ‘doing well at school’: it’s about feeling capable, seen, and part of a community that supports you.
And there’s more: in addition to training activities, the project is based on the involvement not only of students, but also of schools, families and the local community, with the aim of creating an integrated educational network.
The ‘Energie Giovani’ project aims to:
- reduce early school leaving through motivating educational pathways that integrate school, leisure time and personal interests;
- tackle educational deprivation and expand cultural opportunities by developing cross-curricular and life skills, ensuring fair access to cultural resources and transforming the school into a hub open to the local community;
- promote inclusion and emotional and relational well-being by valuing cultural and linguistic diversity, encouraging collaboration, artistic expression and conflict resolution;
- strengthen the school-family-community bond through opportunities for dialogue and collaboration with local authorities, associations and communities;
- increase cultural and social capital by stimulating creativity, active participation and shared planning as tools for inclusion and personal and collective development.
The project also aims to create an environment where every girl and boy can find its place and envisage a sustainable future, fostering inclusion and celebrating cultural and linguistic diversity. Because a community thrives when it grows alongside its younger generations.
“Energie Giovani” is a project that listens to the needs of the local community and turns them into opportunities!
PARTNERSHIP
In July 2025, the Fondazione MAIRE – ETS and Rome’s 4th Municipality signed a partnership agreement to collaborate on the joint design of an initiative aimed at preventing and combating early school leaving among children and students within the Municipality’s jurisdiction.
The agreement’s objectives include identifying the needs and critical issues that lead to early school leaving in the area, designing integrated and multidisciplinary actions, and identifying resources and operational methods to combat it. The involvement of associations already present and active in the area with educational projects that have a social impact is fundamental.
COMMUNITY EDUCATION AGREEMENT
In February 2026, the Fondazione MAIRE – ETS signed the Community Education Pact for the San Basilio area with Rome’s 4th Municipality, and a number of schools and various organisations active in the area. Specifically, the following are party to the Pact: [INSERT LIST OF NAMES TBC].
The Community Education Pact is a collaboration between public and private entities aimed at providing tools and fostering synergy among organisations active in a specific area that operate in the field of education. If education is a responsibility shared among multiple parties, it is only through the joint efforts of all, whilst respecting their respective roles, competences and responsibilities, that an educational community can be built.
The aim of the Pact is to create a space for sharing within the whole community, to place children and young people at the centre by identifying their needs and requirements, and to develop initiatives that respond to them effectively. It is a partnership between schools, families, pupils, local authorities and institutions, and local organisations that work together to provide a unified mission and an educational programme tailored to local circumstances, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable groups.
Inclusion, the elimination of inequalities, the fight against educational poverty, the prevention and tackling of early school leaving, together with the development of skills within the local area, are the key elements of this initiative.
ENERGIE GIOVANI
The initiative proposed by the Fondazione MAIRE – ETS, designed and conceived to tackle early school leaving in Rome’s 4th Municipality, is called “Energie Giovani” (Youth Energy), to emphasise its aim of providing very young students with the tools to make more informed choices about their future, with the objective of combating the problem of early school leaving that is deeply rooted in the local area.
The project offers a practical, experience-based training and orientation programme aimed at young people from secondary school onwards, to help them make more informed choices about their educational and career paths and discover their own potential. The proposed initiatives are designed to educate youth about the employment opportunities offered by the energy transition, guiding them in discovering their talents and helping them to become aware of their abilities. The programme aims to provide concrete tools for building a fulfilling educational and professional future, thereby strengthening students’ motivation.
The aim of the project is also to create an environment where each boy and girl can find its place and imagine a sustainable future, to foster inclusion and to celebrate cultural and linguistic differences. Because a community evolves when it grows alongside its younger generations.
YOU’RE NEVER TOO YOUNG TO BUILD YOUR OWN FUTURE!
