A network of non-profit organizations has been set-up in Palermo, coordinated by the Jesuits’ Gonzaga Institute, which will manage Universal Civil Service (SCU) Projects and which includes “Pedro Arrupe” Institute for Political Formation, Palermo’s Centro Astalli, Polisportiva Gonzaga, Arces and social cooperatives Al Azis and Parsifal. After a long and rigorous procedure, which began in June 2018 and took just over a year, the Department for Youth Policies and Universal Civil Service has registered the network and the school, as lead institution, in the new National Register established by the recent Third Sector Reform.

 In the spirit of an educational tradition that this year is a hundred years old, the registration will now enable the Institute, and other Network’s entities, to select  young people aged between 18 and 28 years who will offer their voluntary collaboration in specific projects and support the many activities in place. A network made up of 7 entities, providing 31 possible sites for young volunteers, enabling to overcome barriers and “protagonisms” in order to serve the community in a new and creative way. According to Father Vitangelo Denora SJ, director of Gonzaga Institute, responsible and coordinator of the Network, "the Universal Civil Service provides an extraordinary opportunity of growth for our young people. It is an opportunity to get involved and be confronted with the deepest desires of the heart, by opening up to meaningful relationships in a community context”.

The next step of the newly established Network will be to elaborate and submit project proposals to the Department for Youth Policies and Universal Civil Service. The next phase will be, instead, that in which the young volunteers will be selected, and introduced in the different projects and in the various agencies. Projects will cover the following areas: care of the historical, artistic and cultural heritage; education and promotion of local culture, landscape and environment, sustainable and social tourism, sport; peace promotion between peoples, non-violence and unarmed defense; promotion and protection of human rights; development cooperation; promotion of the Italian culture abroad and support to Italian communities abroad.