Workshops and Seminars

Value-driven strategies: people and the local community at the heart of business. A programme designed for those who want to run a business by focusing on what really matters: people, the local community and a lasting positive impact. A series of events organised by CNA in collaboration with ARCO, articulated into two webinars and one in-person meeting. The three sessions, designed to inspire, share and turn ideas into concrete action, are:

1. People at the heart: the true competitive advantage
2. Social impact and the local community: new perspectives for businesses
3. Putting sustainability into action: building lasting value

Social Enterprise in Mountain Areas is a course designed to provide skills in the field of social entrepreneurship, offer practical tools for management, organisation, communication and economic sustainability, and strengthen the capacity of local stakeholders to establish sustainable cooperation within the region.

The course is run by YSBCUF and was established on the initiative and with the support of the Caript Foundation and the Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca Foundation, together with ANCI Toscana and GAL MontagnAppennino as part of the Mountain School project.

Data Collection and Analysis is the in-depth thematic module delivered by the M&E and Impact Assessment Unit for La Scuola COSPE.
The research team will present some of the tools for collecting, analysing and communicating data that are useful for Monitoring Officers.
The ARCO lessons form part of the Monitoring Officer Diploma and focus on two main topics:
Digital data collection using Kobo Basic;
Data analysis and visualisation using Excel and Looker Studio.

Assessing what matters and Including only what is material are the two in-depth thematic modules delivered by ARCO as part of the series of sessions dedicated to the 8 principles of SROI (Social Return on Investment) organised by Social Value Italia.

The two-and-a-half-hour seminars include theoretical elements, examples and practical exercises based on a case study, possibly drawing on one (or more) SROI assessments carried out by the members leading the module.

Project design for third sector organisations in the Province of Prato: a training course organised by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Prato in collaboration ARCO, ValueDo and the PIN Foundation .

The aim is to uncover what lies behind the key terms used in the call for proposals and to explore the elements common to all types of calls, such as general and specific objectives, funding ceilings and expenditure items. The course also focused on techniques for defining a project idea and on project design methodologies.

Territorial analysis provides an in-depth understanding of the phenomena affecting a specific area, taking into account its geographical characteristics, social, economic and environmental specificities, and the connections between different places.

For this reason, ARCO, in collaboration with ASviS – the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development, developed a training course to learn about and gain proficiency in the use of GIS tools for the development of spatial policies.

The Master’s Degree in the Evaluation of Local Development Strategies is a course designed to meet the needs of professionals already working in the field of local development (directors or coordinators of LAGs or FLAGs, managers of local strategies within the SNAI, experts working in regional or local public administration, evaluators, etc.). The Master’s programme will last 100 hours: lessons are organised into 20-hour sub-modules taking place in Prato over three days, approximately once a month between September and December 2018. The course is an initiative of CLLD Lab (www.clldlab.com), a workshop organised by ARCO (www.arcolab.org) and IRIS (www.irisricerche.it).

Evaluation of migrant reception projects: a workshop in collaboration with Social Value Italia to discuss the social impact assessment of the INside AUT project with the Il Girasole Social Cooperative.

The INside AUT project aims to promote the independence of beneficiaries of international protection in Tuscany who have left the integrated reception system no more than 18 months ago, through the implementation of individual socio-economic integration pathways. ARCO was involved as a project partner to carry out the interim and final evaluations.

Food in the circular city – How aware are we of the quality of the products we put in our shopping trolleys? How sustainable is the food on our plates? A workshop organised by the University of Florence in collaboration with ARCO and Laboratorio Qumap for Bright Night – the European Researchers’ Night in Prato.

BRIGHT-NIGHT is an event conceived by the European Commission with the aim of promoting scientific culture and demonstrating the social impact of research.

Analysing materiality and quantifying impact: a practical workshop as part of a series of sessions dedicated to the practical application of Social Value International’s 8 principles in projects, assessments and strategies. The series of seminars is a space for active learning, designed for those who wish to:

• explore the practical application of Social Value International’s principles in real-world contexts,
• engage with case studies, tools and methods,
• and experience first-hand how to design and evaluate the social value generated by activities.