OLTRE FRONTIERA – BEYOND BORDERS

Promoting Inclusion Through Football and Community Engagement

Born from the urgent need to foster inclusion and combat discrimination, OLTRE FRONTIERA – BEYOND BORDERS uses football as a powerful tool for social integration among refugee and migrant youth in Bari.

The project began when young asylum seekers, excluded from local sports facilities and facing racism, started training in informal spaces. With support from a former A Series footballer and local organizations, 30 children were selected to train twice weekly on a real pitch, receive mentorship, and participate in official tournaments. The experience boosted their language skills, self-esteem, and social confidence—reigniting hope after traumatic journeys through Libya and across the sea.

In just six months, ten children were affiliated with local football clubs. The initiative became a model of inclusive practice, recognised across Bari and beyond. Today, many participants have completed secondary education, gained employment, and are officially registered athletes.

The programme expanded to include girls aged 4–13 and their mothers, offering football sessions, language classes, and vocational training. It also welcomed people with disabilities, youth overcoming addiction, and those from marginalised backgrounds—building a united front against racism, through sport, culture, and community.

OLTRE FRONTIERA proves that football transcends barriers. It creates spaces of belonging, trust, and dialogue, and continues to inspire cities across Italy to replicate its success.

  • MAMA AFRICA Theatre Lab

 The MAMA AFRICA Theatre Lab explores the powerful and deeply relevant theme of forced migration and refugee experiences, giving voice to young immigrants through a creative and transformative theatrical journey. The workshop begins with broad, open exploration, gradually narrowing into a shared theatrical expression as a final moment of synthesis. Participants will actively contribute to the research and creation of the performance, offering personal input, conducting research, and engaging with various texts. The process involves experimentation, improvisation, musical and theatrical incursions, and culminates in a performance—a cathartic moment of openness and empathic communication. By tapping into emotions, sensations, and reflections inspired by the theme, participants will identify symbolic objects and figures to inform the set and costumes

SKILL UP! is to experiment a new model of co-working space and skills mapping platform, based on the active collaboration between local and European innovators and new European residents, migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, in order to prototype an approach based on horizontal relations, co-design and acceleration of local actions of change. The idea was to co-create a co-working space and platform to jump-start collaboration, empowerment, skills mapping and strengthening among migrants, refugees and local communities in Bari, Italy

Know Your Rights Campaign:

 Promoting Free Movement for All Families

This cross-European project aims to empower citizens and raise awareness about the barriers faced by third-country family members of EU citizens when exercising their right to free movement. Running across Italy, Greece, and Slovenia, the initiative was launched in response to widespread misinformation and administrative challenges that prevent many families from fully enjoying their legal mobility rights within the EU. In April 2018, the campaign kicked off with a one-day information symposium in Bari, Italy. The “Know Your Rights” Symposium brought together a wide range of participants—including non-EU family members of EU citizens, students, academics, journalists, policymakers, civil society representatives, and local leaders. The event created a dynamic space for sharing knowledge, real-life experiences, and policy discussions, challenging the status quo and advocating for inclusive and fair application of free movement rights across Europe. This project continues to foster civic engagement, support informed mobility, and push for policy change at national and EU levels.