WHO ARE WE and HOW WE OPERATE

“COME NOI (that is “People like us”) became involved with projects in under-developed countries, India in particular, more than 40 years ago. It was the time when Gandhi said: “ We (must) think of the millions of human beings that today are less than animals, that are about to die…”.

The spirit that has sustained COME NOI and is still the base of its activities is that of co-involvement, brotherhood, and respect for the cultures and values of the people we are trying to help.

COME NOI has specific characteristics.

1. It’s a group of families that include in their own budget the item “help for the underdeveloped countries”.
2. It’s a group with no religious identity (non-denominational).
3. It gets involved in initiatives aimed to create a more just society, which recognizes the most important values and the differences in culture of the people.
4. The commitment is continuous through time.
5. We seek the partnership of local people in the selection of projects to be financed and in their realization.
6. Priority is given to agricultural projects.
7. We favour financial support to well-defined and even multi-year programs, mostly avoiding short-term or occasional help.
8. The group is committed to a spirit of voluntary service.

Let’s review the various points.

1. We find that the character of “group of families” that COME NOI has adopted seems still valid today. Our families forms the nucleus where the great problems of our times are felt and lived, therefore requiring clear understanding and positions. Each family includes in its own budget the item “Third World”. Each of us is committed to promote understanding of the issues of developing countries in schools, in groups of young people and families, through our newsletters and other media. We also collect funds and keep a sharp eye how we can spend them efficiently. Moreover, each one of us is permanently involved in a personal review of our own attitudes and values.

2. Our commitment is to help people, not to evangelize.

3. On the third point, we would like to add that, in a society where people are more and more “indifferent”, we believe in the importance of valuing and respecting differences. Dissimilarity of cultures, peoples and races are presented as merits, in contrast to the tendency to standardize, that leads to indifference.

4. Our commitment should be continuous in time, both here and there, so that it doesn’t become occasional or impersonal. We aim always to complete and maintain the projects we adopt, even through serious difficulties.

Regarding the other points:

5. co-involvement of the local people in choosing and handling projects

6. emphasis on agriculture

7. avoidance of short-term or one-off inputs

we apply the following criteria and believe in the following goals for all of our projects.

a) Project selection criteria may vary according to size, duration and local partners, so that each project conforms to the needs of the beneficiaries. The projects must, therefore, be shared and developed by the local community because we should keep in mind that “a people cannot be developed but they are masters of their own development”. Those who are finance a project and all those who contribute to it with work, money and visits should feel responsible for it, and develop a sense of living ownership.

b) Project objectives. They must lead to solid growth in the standard of living and the autonomy of the local community. The beneficiaries must be determined to change their own life with their personal efforts, without expecting a lot of help from others. We cooperate with the local institutions, government, church organizations, local NGOs, civil communities, and cooperatives. The development of a village through local agricultural initiatives, integrated where necessary with promotion of education and medicine, is our main thrust because it more easily leads to self sufficiency.

8. Finally, we are all volunteers. Our group consists of people who contribute their time, abilities, money and moral strength. This is how we manage to keep our administrative costs at a minimum.

Where do we operate?

We started many years ago in the villages of the south of India where the level of poverty, at that time, was such as to require really urgent action. Later, the request for aid increased and extended to Latin and Central America. Today we mainly work in Africa.

COME NOI is a non-government and no-profit organization which has received significant cofinancing from the European Community.

And all these, as Giorgio Torelli wrote in his book “Baba Camillo”, we try to accomplish ‘polepole’, that in Swahili means “slowly, softly, never giving up”.