Glossary

Alzheimer's Cafè

Meeting place for elderly who suffer from disease marked by the loss of cognitive ability, and for their families, to facilitate their socialization.

 

Advocacy

Differs from mediation or negotiation because this process aims to reach a mutually acceptable outcome between parties, and to implement and define a model of development in harmony.

 

Capacity Building

Refers to intentional, coordinated and mission-driven efforts aimed at strengthening the management and governance of structures to improve their performance and impact. This occurs through organization development activities, such as leadership development, strategic planning, program design and evaluation, board development, financial planning and management and others.

 

Care Drain

Lack of care.

 

Caregiver

1 - An individual, such as a physician, nurse, or social worker, who assists in the identification, prevention, or treatment of an illness or disability.

2 - An individual, such as a parent, foster parent, or head of a household, who attends to the needs of a child or dependent adult.

 

Childhood

Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty, 0 - 12 years. Conventionally childhood is split in different phases:

1-  early childhood: 0-2 years

2-  phase: 3-5 years

3-  phase: 6-12 years.

 

Collective Center

A type of settlement where displaced persons find accommodation in pre-existing public buildings and community facilities, for example, in schools, barracks, community centers, town halls, gymnasiums, hotels, warehouses, disused factories, and unfinished buildings. .... Often, mass shelter is intended as temporary or transit accommodation persons.

 

Community Based Approach

Bottom-up approach in a community, in some cases to identify social issues to be solved.

 

Confiscated Assets

Property seized from organized crime and re-used for social purposes by agencies accredited under the Italian law n.109 of March 7th, 1996, "Measures for the management of property seized or confiscated".

 

Cooperation For Development

Transfer of financial resources, technical assistance, services and goods by a government or a public body of a country for a developing country (DC).

 

Corporate Foundation

A private foundation that derives its grantmaking funds primarily from the contributions of a profit-making business. In the case of UniCredit Foundation, it is set by statue as non-profit organization serving particular purposes.

 

Cultural Mediator

Professional figure that has the objective of facilitating relations between local and foreign citizens, intended to promote reciprocal knowledge and comprehension aimed at favouring a positive relationship between subjects of different cultural backgrounds.

 

Deskilling

Professional deterioration - decrease in the quality and range of the practical knowledge of individuals, organizations, or societies due to attrition, automation, computerization, downsizing, lack of learning opportunities, or neglect.

 

Developing Countries

Countries with low economic development and that, according to the study of geopolitics, were initially grouped in the so-called Third World, opposed to the First World, industrialized countries with a capitalist economy, and the Second World, countries with socialist economy.

 

Ecotourism

1 - Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.

2 - Form of environmentally responsible tourism that involves travel and visitation to relatively undisturbed natural areas with the object of enjoying, admiring, and studying the nature (the scenery, wild plants and animals), as well as any cultural aspect (both past and present) found in these areas, through a process which promotes conservation, has a low impact on the environment and on culture and favors the active and socioeconomically beneficial involvement of local communities.

 

Employee Community Involvement

A corporate approach to foster relationship among both employees and company through some programs' implementations, involving people in terms of awareness and understanding about the Third Sector.

Family Meeting

1 - Time set aside to promote meaningful communication and to provide for family discussion, decision making, problem solving, encouragement and cooperation.

2 - It can be structured and rather formal or flexible and informal.

3 - Everyone has a part and something to contribute. No one is less important than another, and family members contribute according to their age and ability.

 

Feasibility Study

An analysis and evaluation of a proposed project to determine if it is technically feasible, is feasible within the estimated cost, and will be profitable. Feasibility studies are almost always conducted where large sums are at stake, to check their long-term sustainability.

 

Governance

Set of principles, rules and procedures concerning the government of a society, an institution, a collective phenomenon.

 

Guidelines

Light regulatory instruments, codes of conduct, relevant to the proper observance of a particular legislative framework.

 

Home Care

Term used to distinguish non-medical care or custodial care, which is care that is provided by persons who are not nurses, doctors, or other licensed medical personnel, as opposed to home health care that is provided by licensed personnel.

 

Hospice

A model of care that focuses on relieving symptoms and supporting patients with a life expectancy of six months or less. It involves an interdisciplinary approach to provide medical care, pain management and emotional and spiritual support. The emphasis is on comfort, not curing.

 

Immigrants Integration

In a sociological context, refers to stable, cooperative relations within a clearly defined social system. Integration can also be viewed as a process - that of strengthening relationships within a social system, and of introducing new actors and groups into the system and its institutions. The integration of immigrants is primarily a process: if this process succeeds, the society is said to be integrated.

 

Institutionalization

1 - Process of inclusion of people in need in structures dedicated to education and rehabilitation. 2 - To place a person in the care of an institution.

 

Matching Gift

A contribution from a corporate employer that match contributions to a charitable organization by a corporate employee.

 

Mentoring

A holistic approach that refers to a relationship (formal or informal) between a person with more experience (senior mentor) and one with less experience (junior mentee, protégé), in order to disseminate knowledge, capacitation and experience.

 

Mutual Aid

1 - Principle that aims to ensure that decisions taken are respectful for citizens.

2 - The cooperative as opposed to the competitive factors operating in the development of society.

Networking

1 - Group of people linked together by different social ties, ranging from casual acquaintance, work relationships, family ties.

2 - A supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest.

 

NGO

A non-governmental organization (NGO) is any non-profit, voluntary citizens' group which is organized on a local, national or international level. Task-oriented and driven by people with a common interest, NGOs perform a variety of service and humanitarian functions, bring citizen concerns to Governments, advocate and monitor policies and encourage political particpation through provision of information. Some are organized around specific issues, such as human rights, environment or health. They provide analysis and expertise, serve as early warning mechanisms and help monitor and implement international agreements. Their relationship with offices and agencies of the United Nations system differs depending on their goals, their venue and the mandate of a particular institution.

 

Onlus

Entity operating in a non-profit social activities, an acronym introduced in Italy by Legislative Decree no. 460/1997.

 

Parents Desk

A service dedicated to listening and counseling on relational issues between parents and children.

 

Peer Education

Method of education (especially used in the education and health promotion) in which a small group of "peers" (peers is one who shares the same social group identity as a reference), that is the minority, operates openly in order to inform the rest, which is the majority.

 

Philanthropy

Etymologically means a feeling of love for and between human beings. The effort or inclination to increase the well-being of humankind, as by charitable aid or donations. Love of humankind in general. Something, such as an activity or institution, intended to promote human welfare.

 

Self-Help

Small groups made up of people that share the same situation, in order to succeed in a self-guided improvement —economically, intellectually, or emotionally — often with a substantial psychological basis.

 

Social Co-operative

Organization or company that exercises an economic activity in various non profit fields for mutual aid.

 

Social Cohesion

Social cohesion in sociology refers to the set of behaviors and the bonds of affinity and solidarity among individuals and communities, aimed to reduce disparities in a constructive way linked to social, economic, cultural, ethnic situations.

 

Social Enterprise

The legal form of social enterprise includes all private enterprises, including cooperatives, with a stable economic activity. It produces and exchanges goods and services of social utility and general interest.

 

Social Innovation

Refers to new strategies, concepts, ideas and organizations that meet social needs of all kinds - from working conditions and education to community development and health - and that extend and strengthen civil society.

 

Social Integration

Inclusion of different identities- in terms of race, religion, tradition, culture -in a unique context with no discrimination.

 

Social Promotion

Improvement of social condition, to get a certain prestige and well-being.

 

Social Report

Device reporting that, in addition to the numerical data contained in the annual financial statements, describes the responsibilities and the conducts(social performance, environmental, etc..) resulting from the activities carried out by an organization.

 

Subsidiary

Principle that aims to ensure that taken decisions are as close as possible to the citizen.

 

Sustainability

Balance between satisfying the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own.

 

Third Sector

1 - Non profit organizations' sector.

2 - A term used to describe the nonprofit world. Made up of organizations that are neither governmental nor for-profit businesses.

3 - Voluntary or non-profit sector of an economy; described by Jim Joseph (President, Council On Foundations) as "an intermediary space between business and government where private energy can be deployed for public good." Also called tertiary sector.

 

Tutoring

1 - To exert a protective role by an individual or a legal person.

2 - Act, process, or art of imparting knowledge and skill: education, instruction, pedagogics, pedagogy, schooling, teaching, training, tuition, tutelage.

 

Volunteering

1 - An altruistic activity, intended to promote good or improve human quality of life, but people also volunteer for their own skill development, to meet others, to make contacts for possible employment, to have fun, and a variety of other reasons that could be considered self-serving.

2 - Voluntary and unpaid work performed for the benefit of the community often organized by citizens in specific associations

 

Welfare Assistance

1 - Protection of the interests of citizens in need.

2 - Some of the categories of public assistance that include aid to families with dependent children and other child welfare services, food programs, aid to the aged, blind and disabled, and medical assistance programs.