Our story
December 1990, Via Allioni 8, Turin. In an apartment a few steps from Piazza Statuto and Porta Susa, in the western part of the city, "another good cause" isn't born: a political position is born. A group of activists creates MAIS.
Eight people signed the birth certificate on December 18, 1990, before notary Grazia Prevete: Giovanni Luigi Corio, Giorgio Rossetto, Marco Ressa, Carla Riccadonna, Claudia Milone, Erminia Circosta, and Carlo Daghino.
Among them was Don Fredo Olivero—who has spent his life alongside the excluded, migrants, and those living on the margins—who envisioned MAIS as an association capable of being among people, accompanying them toward their own autonomy.
His words remain our compass: "Participation and the history of Latin American movements are the founding elements of the spirit of MAIS."
We come from the experience of ACRA, of which we were a Turin branch. From that political community, we choose autonomy, not as an identity gesture but as a necessity: to build our own radical, rooted practice, free to name the structural causes of injustice—colonialism and its legacies, patriarchy, racism, the exploitation of labor and land.
The word that founded us, self-development, is a statement of position. We reject the idea that there are peoples "to be developed" and a North that possesses knowledge and solutions. We believe, on the contrary, that communities already possess resources, knowledge, history, and the capacity for self-government, and that our task is not to "lead" but to stand alongside them—in alliance, not as a substitute.
That's why, from the beginning, we haven't worked for people, but with people and within their conflicts: with indigenous movements and family farmers in Latin America, with feminist and grassroots organizations in Africa and the Middle East. No compassionate rhetoric: mutual recognition, political responsibility, and a shared struggle.
From that apartment on Via Allioni, the headquarters soon moved to Via Saluzzo 23, in the working-class, migrant-inhabited neighborhood of San Salvario, and from there began the journey that led us into the world. Today, after so many years, we remain what we were: a secular, grassroots, independent organization that unites Turin and the world, convinced that solidarity is a partisan choice.
We strive to build transnational alliances between organized groups: movements, associations, communities, and grassroots networks. We strive to work with a feminist and intersectional approach, recognizing that gender, class, race, age, and disability are intertwined and cannot be addressed separately. We seek genuine participation where those involved can decide, plan, and evaluate with us.
Let's try to do it with joy. We don't believe in activism as penance, nor in solidarity as a sense of guilt. Feminism, peasant movements, and the resistance movements of the South have taught us something fundamental: joy isn't a break from struggle; it's its condition.
The smile, the celebration, the care, the shared food, the time together "without producing" are not moments next to politics—they are politics.
Lightness isn't naiveté: it's clarity. It allows us to endure for a long time without burning out, to endure hardship without turning it into an identity, to remain open and capable of desire even when everything would convince us it's futile. Those who fight with a smile undermine the rhetoric of sacrifice—the same rhetoric with which power demands obedience.
Our chickens, vegetable gardens, eggs, home-grown produce, and that "Who's making us do this?" aren't decorations: they're our way of remembering that social transformation isn't a crushing duty, but a desire that moves us.
Our horizon is economic and social democracy: a society in which no person is left out because of class, gender, origin, skin color, sexual orientation, disability, or the job they do.
What we reject.
We don't provide charity, we don't provide "assistance," we don't create narratives about saving the world. The paternalistic cooperation model—which transforms people into "beneficiaries" and communities into "contexts of intervention"—is part of the problem, not the solution. Poverty and forced migration are not natural disasters, but the result of historical and current power relations.
THE PEOPLE
Our team
Stefania Di Campli
Chief Operating Officer
Erica Pozzobon
Intercultural animator
Lisa Canal Brunet
Global Citizenship Education Activity Operator
The Board of Directors
The Board of Directors is composed of 3 to 5 members, including the President and Legal Representative, elected by the Ordinary Assembly, which determines their number from time to time.
Council members serve for a term of three (3) years, are eligible for re-election, and serve without compensation. Reimbursement for documented expenses related to their position may be provided.
Resolutions are taken by a majority of the members of the Council itself.
The Board of Directors has all ordinary and extraordinary administrative powers and may therefore carry out all acts and operations necessary to achieve the Association's goals and ensure its life and development.
Sandra Scagliotti
President
Marco Ressa
Legal Representative
Fredo Olivero
Councilor and Honorary President
WHERE WE ARE
In the world
In Turin
Bunker
(Via Paganini 0/200, Turin)
The Bunker is the multipurpose space that houses the MAIS office: here, the most creative and organizational aspects of our daily work take shape, from planning international cooperation activities to designing Global Citizenship Education programs for schools and the local community. In a vibrant and multidisciplinary environment, shared with other organizations that animate the city, the MAIS team coordinates projects, maintains relationships with partners and volunteers, and develops the awareness-raising initiatives we bring to schools and the Piedmontese community.
Social farm
(at the Bunker)
In the green area of the Bunker, next to the community gardens, lives a small, special team: seven chickens and a rooster, MAIS colleagues in educational activities with schools. Girls and boys get to know them, discovering step by step the value of responsibility and the rhythm of rural life. Among sunflower seeds and freshly laid eggs, the chicken coop becomes an open-air classroom, where they learn through play and hands-on learning.
Eva Mameli Calvino Garden
(Via Campana 32, Turin)
The Eva Mameli Calvino garden is home to several corn crate gardens tended by a small group of gardeners. The space also hosts environmental education workshops and cultural events, organized in collaboration with the Women for the Defense of Civil Society Association: a green corner where the land becomes an opportunity for encounter, learning, and active citizenship.
Falchera Oasis
( Via degli Ulivi 108, Turin)
Oasi Falchera is the new environmental hub managed by the associations Fiesca Verd, Ortika, and MAIS, currently under construction within the Laghetti di Falchera Natural Park. The project includes greenhouses, community gardens, a food forest, and a play area, designed to engage young people and adults in environmental education programs that connect them to nature. This space will grow alongside the community that inhabits it, transforming the park into an open-air laboratory for sustainability and environmental stewardship.
Cascina Roccafranca
(Via Rubino 45, Turin)
Since 2015, MAIS has run a youth gathering and homework help space at Cascina Roccafranca every Friday afternoon, offering workshops and recreational activities designed to support young people in their academic and extracurricular journeys. In the summer, these activities transform into outings to explore the Piedmont region, enjoying nature, culture, and shared discoveries.
Via Baltea
( Via Baltea 3, Turin)
On Via Baltea, MAIS runs a homework help center and offers self-help activities, offering boys and girls a resource for their academic career and opportunities to learn by doing, combining creativity and hands-on practice.
