It is true that one can argue by saying that in the world many teams exist and they try to compete with each other – fact market forces are a proof of that. So, if Apple wins, Microsoft looses… and if i am Microsoft, well.. i loose and that is the truth. But here i’m looking only at me. I’m looking at a small scale, what does the larger scale depict? Is it the same? Has the computer industry lost? Have the customers lost? Well, i’m not sure of the answer, but… i know that a monopoly is never good for an industry nor for the consumer… for it takes away innovation and creativity, apart of the price game! So maybe, the WE (industry and consumer) haven’t actually lost… but created a more healthy market atmosphere.

The question which arise here then, is: “Is the world a you-me, or a us-us”… what i mean is, is the world one big team (the WORLD) or many individuals (Italy, USA, France, India, etc..) trying to achieve an objective?

As always in the history, communities have always expanded.. and today we have reached a stage where we are all of us are interdependent but we have a difficulty in accepting this interdependence. It makes us feel insecure. For me we should take this as we take our first day of college, our first date, our first day of work, or our first meet with the family of my fiance`… we all face this insecurity, but we move forward and we become part of the team.

In the same way, we need to open our minds see the development of the world a project where all of us are involved. A project where we are one team. A game where the rules have changed and we need to learn the new ones fast… for either we all win, or we all loose!

We are all in it together… and we can all win :)

First: the approach. For VIA per VIA I think it’s very incisive, and a powerful message for the town of Modena (and not only for Modena), the fact that a Municipality decided to devolve time, resources and money to face local problems through the involvement of the people directly involved in those same problems, i.e. Italians, migrants and institutions all together.
This means a bottom – up approach, which is a good example of Participatory democracy, much different from the standard Democracy, based on a decision-making approach following a top-down model.

Second, the tools. The Municipality of Modena decided to arrange a training course for Facilitators to help this Participatory approach be effective. And some of the Facilitators selected are migrants, not only Italians, and they will work, in the Facilitating process, together with representatives of the Municipality Institutions.
Which means: we’re all citizens of the town, no difference between old and new citizens; the Municipality really wants to move the common citizens to the same level of Institutions.

Third: the scheduling, and the clear definition of who ‘s doing what, included target dates to reach the results, step-by-step check points, which kind of results should be reached at each check point.

So, if the objectives are clear, the tools are good and the process is well defined …. hopefully the results should be good as well.
If not, it will be interesting to investigate the reason why not ….