The Europe Challenge 2024 Regional Meetings in Italy, Online
25 Mar 2024
The Europe Challenge 2024 has commenced the latest chapter of its year-long programme by holding two regional summits in Milan and online. Fifty-five libraries and communities from 24 European Countries are participating in this edition, which is themed Libraries, Communities, and Democracy. The regional summit in Milan and the online summit are two of three summits where participants will work with alum mentors and our implementing partners to develop their projects.
The Europe Challenge is an annual programme that brings together teams from libraries and communities across Europe to develop, share, and implement creative solutions to address social isolation, inequality, disinformation, climate crises, and other local challenges.
The regional summit in Milan was held at the newly renovated Biblioteca Calvairate from 18 – 19 March 2024. The library plays a vital role in the local community, as the neighbourhood of Calvairate is amongst the most fragile and diverse within Milan. Today is the first day of the online summit, ending on 27 March. At both summits, our implementing partners, Including Society, Changency, Dokk1, and alum mentors, supported the challenge teams with technical aspects of their projects, such as prototyping and storytelling for impact.
One such project is Literacy for Climate Transition by the library Biblioteca Municipal Rocha Peixoto alongside the community Póvoa em Transição. They are amplifying the voices of social entrepreneurs, farmers, authors, and local citizens who are taking green actions like going to work on bicycles or growing their food to inspire others. In addition, a new collection of books about climate change and climate action has been added to their library. A workshop with children based on the book “The Protest” was held on 16 March, inviting them to express their ideas to make our world a better place to live.
Our Foundation initiated the Europe Challenge, which is supported by Fondazione Cariplo, the Scottish Library and Information Council, and public funding through Arts Council England.
