Cittadini Reattivi: the project and association
Cittadini Reattivi is an Italian women-led organisation born in 2013 as a civic journalism project in the public interest to tell the stories of resilient communities living in contaminated areas. In 2015, as it widened its reach, Cittadini Reattivi turned association for social promotion (APS): it now also works to promote civic participation and civic monitoring by training local communities and journalists, and advocates for accountability and transparency in the public administration. It focuses on the right to know, environment protection, public health and rule of law and pursues anti-corruption activism, environmental and social justice. It maps issues and good practices engaging hundreds of resilient communities and tens of thousands of citizens in Italy living in the most polluted areas.
Civic journalism is based on news gathering through social media and community networks, followed by verification of information through high professional journalistic standards.
In 2018 it was included in the European Journalism Centre (EJC)’s Engaged Journalism Accelerator and recently received the European Journalism Covid19 support fund by EJC and the Facebook Journalism Project.
Over the years, Cittadini Reattivi focused on the following activities:
1) production of investigative reports (of specific and national reach), hundred insights on health, environment and transparency and two crowdsourced documentaries telling the struggles and victories of the communities living in the contaminated sites of Casale Monferrato and Brescia. All work produced in the public interest.
2) lobbying activities on the Italian government, monitoring open data policies through the Open GovPartnership Forum and campaigning within the FOIA4Italy coalition, which in 2016 led to the first Freedom of Information Act in Italy.
3) awareness-raising activities, promoting around 200 meetings and training sessions for citizens, students and journalists across Italy on transparency and whistleblowing, right of access to information, accountability and monitoring of public data.
4) helping communities fight infodemic caused by the Covid19 crisis and promoting transparency of the regional administration particularly, but not only, in Lombardy, the region where the association is based, a very contaminated one, and where Covd-19 hit the strongest. Cittadini Reattivi strongly pursued advocacy actions to support people’s health, a public health system while continuing engaging with communities and strengthening its network of citizens and associations fighting climate change, cementification and pollution on top of Covid19.
The background where Cittadini Reattivi operates, and that triggered it to act, is a Country, Italy, with more than 15 thousand polluted sites, millions of people living in areas contaminated by carcinogenic pollutants and with excess mortality in the populations, industrial sites where decontamination is delayed and the management and disposal of contaminants are very likely to be infiltrated by mafia and organised crime. Plus, bad air quality that is regularly detected in many cities and industrial areas, costing illness and poor health to people.
For this reason Cittadini Reattivi advocate with local and national Italian institutions to make sure they act against the health and climate crises. As the young activists of Fridays for Future or associations like Medici per L’Ambiente (Doctors for the Environment) whom we collaborate, remind us, these crises have a single matrix: environmentally unsustainable development.
With several associations we are now launching a new campaign of civic monitoring on air quality, and our role is to train citizens on the tools they can use to achieve it.
Civic monitoring is the process that allows citizens to access, verify and elaborate data and documents of the public administration to act for their right for health and the environment.
Cittadini Reattivi also works to bring all communities in a network of participatory policy making, such as climate assemblies. Our communities across Italy, like in Taranto or Florence, are very strong, active and resilient and their potential for change is high.
All these “hot” topics have become the subject of civic journalism throughout Italy. Thanks to crowdmapping, i.e. the participation of reactive citizens on our online platform and social networks, Cittadini Reattivi has produced multimedia investigations, published to date online and on national media.
Cittadini Reattivi has never accepted sponsorships in order to maintain its editorial independence and in 2017 it turned to crowdfunding and citizen support to produce its first documentary-investigation.
Founders of Cittadini Reattivi in May 2013:
Rosy Battaglia
Investigative journalist, creator of Cittadini Reattivi, project of civic journalism on health, environment and legality. Italian FOIA activist, carrying out its role of watchdog, over the years has produced various investigations that have been published on a number of Italian media and triggered the release into the public domain of data-sets on contaminated sites, asbestos, waste and health previously restricted to Italian institutions. Twice a finalist at the DIG Awards, Eternot Prize 2018, Pioneer of the future in June 2017, third prize “Gruppo del Zuccherificio 2016” and “Reporter for the Earth” in 2015. Rosy is the President (and key person) of the association.
Flavio Castiglioni, co-founder of the Bicipace event, is part of the board of Legambiente Lombardia. He is currently a municipal councillor in charge of the environment in the municipality of Castellanza.
He is currently involved in the protection of the Olona River by carrying out an experimental D-Noses project (funded by the European Community) for monitoring olfactory harassment, involving citizens with the coordination of the Milan Polytechnic. Currently in the association’s board. Reactive citizen.
Claudio Spreafico, former head of Legambiente Ticino in Turbigo (MI), one of the first members of Bicipace and one of the founders of the “Coordinamento Salviamo il Ticino”, to protect the valuable waters of the river and its canals polluted by the foul-smelling sewage coming from the malfunctioning purifier of S. Antonino (Lonate Pozzolo, VA). He is responsible for the Italy-Cuscatlan Association that promotes health, educational and development projects and programs in collaboration with Ser.Co.Ba in Salvador. Since May 2011 he is involved in the activity of municipal councillor in Turbigo in a civic list. Reactive citizen.
Current directors and associates:
Ginevra Marino (secretary)
Dynamic, practical, solar, eclectic. Passionate about tourism, travel, sea, languages, communication, social media and good wine. In daily life I try to merge these interests in one voice.
Gloria Schiavi
Committed environmentalist, multimedia journalist and producer with international experience in sustainability, documentaries and sport events. A globetrotter, she loves to live abroad and never buys a return ticket. She is flexible and versatile and always tasked with translations.
Vincenzo Senzatela
Science journalist and expert in environmental data and civic monitoring
Federica Mazzei
Hungry for the rule of law and good practices, after the APC Master’s Degree in Anti-Corruption and Anti-Mafia becomes a member of Cittadini reattivi in 2015. Today, from the ranks of the school’s precarious workers, she thinks with determination and courage that there is nothing more satisfying than conveying beauty.
Nicola Petrilli
Sociologist, achieved the master in Organized Crime and Corruption Prevention and Conflict Analysis, he has always fought against social injustice and in defence of the environment and nature. After an internship with Cittadini Reattivi, he continues its collaboration in the editorial staff following the motto “more slowly, less, better, more beautiful”.
