After 36 months, the Convicts Upskilling Pathways (CUP) project came to an end, the result of an international partnership coordinated by the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation and co-financed by the European Erasmus + program. On July 14th, at the Collegio Carlo Alberto in Turin, the concluding conference of the program will be held in attendance, created with the aim of improving the medium-long term employability and social reintegration of 130 inmates in six European prisons in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and the Netherlands. The event will be an opportunity to present the results obtained, share the learning that emerged and
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CUP in The Netherlands
In the Netherlands another exchange and enrichment event between European partners of the CUP project The agenda of the two days organized by Partner Tirantes and Vught Prison is intense. The route is visiting for a whole day the maximum security prison of Vught where the director André Aarntzen warmly welcomed all the 5 partner bodies. At the center the prisoners in a prison reality, a European example of rehabilitation of the person through work. Laundry, logistic center for the sorting of all the food material of the prisons of the country, laboratories for welding, carpentry and much more. . A small,
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The European partners of the CUP project met in Athens on March 15th and 16th to learn from the training experiences developed in Thiva Prison.
Another opportunity for meetings and exchanges between the partners of the Cup Project, this time at the Thiva Women’s Prison, about 70 km from Athens. Due to the Pandemic situation it was impossible to carry out the visit to one of the three Greek prisons involved however the great motivation of the partners and the extraordinary reception organization by Human Rights 360 and Epanodos made possible the realization of this important exchange. The Female Prison of Thiva is the only all-women prison in the country, with over 400 women. Small children under 3 are also housed with their mothers. The
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Training modules in prison for employability…and much more!
The testing phase of the Cup project has begun as a confirmation of a very productive year for the European CUP Project. Despite the great difficulties of the moment, the European prisons involved in Italy, Cyprus, The Netherland and Greece have continued their mission of promoting accessible and inclusive education to concretely support employability of detainees. The educational design perspective of the penitentiary system can only take shape through a pedagogical path that allows a real expansion of the field of experience, working towards the construction of conditions that can allow the person to rethink one’s role in the world.
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Convicts Upskilling Pathways Project: a Transnational meeting in Cyprus to deepen virtuous experiences on the field
The European partners of the CUP project met in Nicosia, Cyprus on the 5th and 6th October to finalize the innovative training courses that will be tested in six European prisons involved. The Transnational meeting provided an opportunity to offer and define solid foundations for the CUP project whose education activities will take place inside Prisons in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and the Netherlands. The project expects to develop training modules for inmates to better align education to the needs and opportunities offered by the labour market. Carpentry, silversmith, sewing/women fashion, welding and many others are the courses offered based
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‘Sharing lessons on education in prison and employability for detainees’ – An international online workshop for the CUP partnership
CUP partners and associates from Italy, Greece, Cyprus, The Netherlands and Portugal, and experts from Africa and Latin America came together from 29 June to 1 July 2021 for an online workshop and training event aimed at “Sharing Lessons”. The training was organised with the support of the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITC-ILO) and it was hosted on the ITC-ILO’s digital platform, ‘eCampus’. This blog is an account of key outcomes and reflections in the words of those who worked together behind the scenes to organise the event. A strong and effective partnership “The event
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The CUP Diaries: capturing powerful voices and stories
This new blog series aims to document the process for developing the intellectual outputs of the project: the Make the Case Advocacy Toolkit, the Skills Development Blueprint and the Impact Evaluation Kit. CUP partners join in the conversation, telling the stories and sharing reflections about their creative process and what they have learned by participating in the project so far. In this first blog, Eleni Takou and Katerina Pournara from HumanRights360, tell the story of the making of the CUP video: a collection of powerful voices and compelling stories from Greece, Cyprus, The Netherlands and Italy. What was the
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Prison education. Family life and Civilization – a reintegration pathway
On Friday 12 February 2021, the conference “Prison education. Family life and Civilization- a reintegration pathway” was successfully conducted online with a significant participation. The conference was organised by Epanodos and HumanRights360 within the framework of the Convicts Upskilling Pathways project, funded by Erasmus+. During the conference, the Deputy Minister of Citizens’ Protection, Mr. Eleftherios Oikonomou, sent his greetings highlighting that: “after two years, we now have a serious effort on the holistic modernization of the country’s penitentiary system and one of the pillars of our strategic programme is the complete, post-penitetriary policy and care” Epanodos President of Board, Professor
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Prison education. Family life and Civilization – a reintegration pathway
The conference “Prison education. Family life and Civilization- a reintegration pathway” will be organised on Friday, 12 February 2021 within the framework of the Convicts Upskilling Pathways project – funded by Erasmus+ – by HumanRights360 and Epanodos, the Greek members of the partnership. Interpretation will be provided in Italian, English and Greek The event will be held on Zoom and livestreamed via Facebook. Click HERE to register. 10:00 – 10:30 GMT +2 Welcome remarks: Greek Ministry of Citizen Protection, Prof. Chr. Zarafonitou, Epanodos President of Board, Fotini Milioni, Epanodos Director, representative of the CUP project 10.30 – 12.00 GMT +2 Session 1: Prison education and
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Community Building Circles: How a restorative approach empowered detainees to cope with the pandemic
Prisons are too often places of conflict, violence, and fear. Isolated in overcrowded and understaffed facilities, prison inmates often become embroiled in violent disputes (Kaufer et al., 2014). The limited attention given to prison violence is testimony to the societal norms regarding acceptable conditions and behavior inside prisons (Wolff et al., 2007). One of the reasons for the violence is the lack of conflict resolution skills in a constructive and non-constructive way. Particularly in prison, many do not have or do not use these vital skills, believing that violence and coercion are our only choices in managing our problems. As
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