“Centro Studi Difesa Civile” was founded as an association in 1988 on the initiative of a small group of people gathered around the ideals of Nonviolence and conscientious objection. In 2002 it became an Association for Social Promotion.
CSDC has been working for more than 30 years to spread the culture of Peace and to train on constructive conflict management and conflict transformation, by combining theory and practice as well as fostering discussion at various levels (political, academic, operational).
Its principal areas of action are research, training, advocacy, peacebuilding.
CSDC implements and participates, in collaboration with various civil society organizations, in training initiatives aimed at professionalising Peace workers engaged in conflict management and peacebuilding. It also contributes to training activities on Peace Education and Human Rights, in collaboration with various universities (University of Padua; University for Foreigners of Perugia; University “Roma Tre”; University of Florence). Finally, CSDC is being playing a relevant role in the establishment of Civil Peace Corps in Italy. Since the launch of the experimental national program on Civil Peace Corps establishment, CSDC has been contributing to training activities for both trainers and volunteers.
Active in promoting and supporting Peace policies development and implementation at Italian and international levels, CSDC is a member of various national (Rete Italiana Pace e Disarmo; Campagna “Un’altra Difesa è possibile!”; Rete “In Difesa Di”) and international (GlobalPartnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict/GPPAC) networks. In these frameworks it promotes and participates in initiatives aimed at raising awareness of public opinion and Institutions on conflict prevention and conflict constructive management and transformation.
CSDC takes a Gender approach, both in external action and internal organization, and promotes the enhancement of Women and Youth role in conflict prevention and peacebuilding. Actively engaged in the promotion of the “Women, Peace and Security Agenda,” CSDC contributes to related policy development and implementation. At the national level, it set up an informal network of a dozen civil society organizations – “Genere Interventi e Processi di Pace/GIPP” – that had a constructive role in the drafting of Italy’s Third National Action Plan implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) “Women, Peace and Security”. Through the present Director, who has been actively engaged in promoting the “Women, Peace and Security” International Agenda since its adoption, CSDC regularly participates and contributes to Italy’s National Action Plans drafting process. At international level, CSDC participates in working groups (“Women and Gender Realities in the OSCE Region” in Civic Solidarity Platform; “Gender, Peace and Security” in European Peacebuilding Liaison Office/EPLO) as well as in civil society’s monitoring activity on implementing the “Women, Peace and Security” Agenda (CSDC wrote down the case studies on Italy for EPLO Reports 2010, 2013, 2016).
For more than 20 years CSDC has been supporting young people interested in undertaking activities to promote and build peace. Since the adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution dedicated to Youth, Peace and Security (2250/2015), CSDC has been paying even more attention to their ideas and aspirations, also promoting the establishment of a dedicated national network (Rete Italiana Giovani Pace e Sicurezza/GiPS), which is now member of the international United Network of Young Peacebuilders/UNOY Peacebuilders.
Finally, CSDC – considering research, training and action closely interconnected – is also engaged in field activities concerning conflict prevention and peacebuilding. By cooperating with national, European, and international institutions and organizations, CSDC promotes and contributes to implementing initiatives and projects funded by public and private donors. Particular attention is paid to implementing Gender and “Women, Peace and Security” policies. Particularly, CSDC acted as partner of the Centre on Human Rights “Antonio Papisca” (University of Padua) and of the Non-Governmental Organization “Un Ponte Per” in carrying out various projects funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in the framework of implementing Italy’s Third and Forth National Action Plan on “Women, Peace and Security”.
