Galileo Progetti was founded in Budapest in 2009 by Italian and Hungarian partners. The majority shareholder is ARCA Social Cooperative, this cooperative deals with management of social, welfare, and educational services. You can reach ARCA’s website through this link.

“Arca” Social Cooperative Ltd. was established in 1983 and deals with the management of social, welfare, and educational services, designed and provided in private form and in agreement with the public administrations. It employs around 1300 people, of which about 900 are partners. Arca intervenes in the territorial scope of Tuscany region with services pointed towards minor, early childhood, elderly people, disabled, people with addiction problems and psychological distress. Through its various projects and interventions, the cooperative pursues to the general wealth of the community, the promotion and integration of the citizens on the basis of the principles of cooperation, participation, democracy, hospitality and responsibility, according to the Italian Law 381/1991.

Arca mission

  • To work for the well-being and integration of citizens.
  • To test innovative operational ways in design of services sphere.
  • To valorise the partners.
  • To carve out territorial networks with the collaboration of associations, volunteering organizations, institutions, and enterprises.

Goals

  • To foster the partners’ work, enhance their professional and working condition.
  • To valorise the potentiality of everyone, taking into account the needs, the aptitudes, and the peculiarities, gender’s ones as well.
  • To support the assumption of responsibilities by the members, their participation to the administration of the enterprise, the principles of mutuality.
  • To valorise the social enterprise through its abilities to invest and innovate.  

Values

  • The person as the centre of our thinking and social acting.
  • The solidarity as a way to live the own be citizens of a territory.
  • The participation and the democracy as fundamental ways of comparison and construction.
  • The cooperation and the network as values added for any social answer that we are going to design.
  • The enterprise as tool at the service of a project of social solidarity and mutuality.
  • The transparency.
  • The work.

Arca is associated with “Consorzio Metropoli s.c.s. Onlus” that gathers types A and B cooperatives of Tuscany region. Moreover, the cooperative is associated with “Consorzio Pegaso Network”, that is the regional formative agency of Tuscan Legacoop social cooperatives, born to launch the creation of a stable network for the development and innovation of the social work. Finally, Arca along with other important Tuscan cooperatives, has founded the “Rosalibri S.r.l” society, in order to manage the following structures in Florence provence:

  • Residential center for psychiatric patients “A. Ponticelli” in Panzano, Chianti.
  • Accomodation center for disables “Pescille” in Panzano, Chianti.
  • Extended care “Rosa Libri di Greve” in Greve, Chianti
  • Extended care “Naldini Torrigiani” in Tavarnelle, Val di Pesa. 

Arca adheres to “Lega Nazionale Cooperative e Mutue”, moreover, Arca fostered and supported the inception of the Social Cooperative Ulisse (type B cooperative), with the aim of creating and developing services through the integration of disadvantaged people.

In 2009, Arca has founded and launched the society Galileo Progetti, with the aim of supporting the development of the social sector, integration policies in Hungary, thank to the training, exchange of experiences, importation of good practices, especially from Italy, by operating in European context.

The cooperative works in two areas: Childhood area and Social area.

The childhood area deals with design and management of early childhood services (0-6 years old); currently, it manages more than 90 services in the Tuscan region: “Nidi d’infanzia”, “Spazi Gioco”, “Centri Bambini e Famiglie”, “Scuole dell’Infanzia”, “Centri 0-6”, toy libraries, summer services, “Coordinamento pedagogico”, in collaboration with the local administrations or privately.

Most of the services are managed on behalf of local administrations, but, over the years, Arca has activated new services of nursery and kindergartens, privately, in network, or in direct relationship with the families. Arca is involved since forever, thanks to its financial solidity, in investment operations, such as Project financing, that is a financial operation that permit to the public administrations to achieve works, whose duty is partially or totally dependent on private subjects.

Arca Cooperative’s early childhood services aim to the total well-being of the kid – physical, psychical, and emotional – a well-being that allows the kids to do new experiences, create important relationships, grow according to personal paths and rhythms. Each kid is accommodated in the services as an individual bearer of treasure, of another world to respect and protect in comparison and daily exchange.

The cooperative has distinguished itself over the years for the strong planning skills that have enabled it to respond better to the needs and stresses coming from local authorities and families themselves, promoting innovative services to reconcile high pedagogical quality with flexible and diversified responses.

For some years now, the Arca cooperative has launched a research project on the use of Media education in childcare services, which led in 2018 to the creation of Arcalab, the Documentation Centre for children and families in Arca, a place of training and research and, at the same time, space for sharing with families on the theme of Media Education and the conscious and creative use of new technologies, helping to build a network of experiences and to spread a culture of childhood on the territory. At the headquarters of Arcalab are usually carried out activities dedicated to children and families.

There are different types of services in the Social Area (depending on the type, users, type of service):

  • Services for minors: Arca manages and promotes services for children with a strong educational value, aimed at maintaining and/or improving individual cognitive, behavioural, relational and socialization skills. The cooperative privately manages two educational communities and, through tenders, educational services at home, school and territorial.
  • Services for young people: Arca has been working for many years in youth centres and Informagiovani where it promotes information, cultural promotion, orientation, support and accompaniment to growth.
  • Services for disables: Arca promotes interventions aimed at the integration and development/ maintenance of autonomy through the private management of a community protected housing for the disabled; health residences for the disabled; educational services at home and school; day socialization centres; work-support services (socio-therapeutic insertions or training placements within the meaning of L.68/99).
  • Services for underprivileged people: Arca manages territorial services of social assistance, guidance and accompaniment to work.
  •  Services for migrants: Through the management of literacy centers, first information guidance and accompaniment to work Arca promotes the integration of migrants on the territory.
  • Services for people with psychical problems: Arca manages interventions within residential structures, day centers, apartment groups, home care services.
  • Services for people with addiction problems: Arca operates projects in the field of prevention and manages on behalf of the ASL of Florence a residential facility for observation and diagnosis for people with addictions.
  • Services for elderly people: Arca manages Residences for the Elderly, Day Centers, local domiciliary services aimed at people cars and not enough cars, information desks.

The cooperative develops and manages projects on European Social Funds, Regional Funds, Erasmus+, Funds of Banking Foundations, Projects with Children, Fund 8X1000 Waldensian Church. For years the cooperative has been working with Galileo to implement projects and mobility exchanges. Through Arca Internazionale the cooperative promotes and supports paths of international cooperation and solidarity offering members and working groups opportunities for discussion with cooperators of organizations from other countries, International volunteering experiences and opportunities for training and professional exchanges abroad.